Tadashi Suzuki

A précis as understood by John Nobbs

Tadashi Suzuki has been and continues to be one of the most successful political and artistic pioneers of theatre in recent times.

Born in 1939, he began his career running a small university drama club in the mid 1960’s, and gradually established a substantial theatrical empire based in the village of Toga in the Japanese Alps.

He began developing the Suzuki Method of Acting (SMAT) in the early 70’s. Inspired by and sourced from the ancient Japanese theatre traditions of Noh and Kabuki, the SMAT currently consists of 6 basic exercises that Suzuki has configured for his own personal purpose.

The SMAT has attracted worldwide interest because it can be adapted to enhance any type of performer, in the same way that classical ballet serves as a source for many dance aesthetics.

He has also forged an equally unique and powerful theatrical aesthetic which can be matched against the visual style and insights of Kubrick's films, and the mythical gravitas and grace of Wagner’s operas.

Virtually self taught, he has used the SMAT as psychic ballast and the generator of a 50-year and counting career that adroitly conjoins the essences of classicism, modernism and postmodernism to fabricate a theatrical style that is both highly personal and undeniably universal.