Outdoor theater - Yagaigeki

A general term for plays performed outdoors. Also called open-air or outdoor plays, it is the opposite of indoor plays. Pageants are also included in the broad definition of open-air plays. As seen in primitive plays and local folk arts, plays originated as outdoor plays and have a much longer history than indoor plays. Ancient Greek and Roman theaters were built on hillsides and plateaus in the suburbs, and most medieval religious and secular plays were performed in squares and on the streets. It was not until the 16th century that theaters became fully covered indoor theaters as they are today, attached to the gardens of Italian nobles' mansions, and advances in stage backdrops that applied perspective painting techniques made it possible to suggest a large space. Elizabethan theaters were also semi-open-air theaters. In the East, plays in ancient India and China were mainly performed in squares in front of ancestral temples and palaces as part of rituals. In Japan, not only ancient Gigaku, Bugaku, and Sangaku, but also early Noh and Kabuki were similar to outdoor theater, and were performed in temporary huts with bamboo fences and straw mats. The word "shibai" (theater) is said to have originally meant the place where the theater was, that is, the auditorium. Since the early modern period, indoor theaters have become mainstream as theatrical performances have become commercialized, but at the beginning of the 20th century, the public nature of outdoor theater was reevaluated, and an outdoor theater movement began in various countries. In Japan, it became popular during the Taisho period, and Tsubouchi Shoyo in particular promoted it from both a theoretical and practical perspective, but it was an intermittent attempt.

[Tsutomu Ohshima]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

屋外で行われる演劇の総称。屋外劇、戸外劇ともいい、屋内劇に対する。ページェントも広義の野外劇に含まれる。原始演劇や各地の民族芸能などにみられるように、演劇は発生的には野外劇としての性格が強く、屋内劇に比べてはるかに長い歴史をもっている。古代ギリシア・ローマの劇場は郊外の丘の斜面や台地を利用してつくられ、中世の宗教劇や世俗劇のほとんども広場や街頭で演じられた。劇場が今日のような全蓋(がい)式の屋内劇場になったのは16世紀に入ってからで、イタリアの貴族の邸宅内の庭園などに付設され、遠近画法を応用した舞台背景の進歩により、広い空間を暗示できるようになった。エリザベス朝時代の劇場も半野外劇場だったといえる。東洋においても、古代インドや中国の演劇は祭祀(さいし)の一部として、主として祖廟(そびょう)や宮殿前の広場で演じられた。わが国では、古くは伎楽(ぎがく)、舞楽(ぶがく)、散楽(さんがく)などはもとより、創始期の能楽や歌舞伎(かぶき)も野外劇に近く、竹矢来(やらい)、蓆(むしろ)張りの仮設小屋で演じられた。芝居ということばは本来、芝の居る所、すなわち観客席を意味したといわれる。近世以降、演劇興行の商業化に伴って屋内劇場が主流となったが、20世紀初頭、野外劇のもつ公共的性格が見直され、各国で野外劇運動が勃興(ぼっこう)した。わが国でも大正時代に入って盛んになり、とくに坪内逍遙(しょうよう)は理論・実践の両面からこれを推進したが、断続的な試みに終わった。

［大島　勉］

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