Towards an intercultural theatre: Ariane Mnouchkine and the Thêâtre du Soleil's Shakespeare productions (1981-1984)

As the contemporary stage directors sought new ways and forms to produce plays as the central organizing member for the performance event, the theatre practitioners in Europe could not be indifferent to the impact of Asian theatre forms that had been on the rise since the beginning of the century, given the rapid changes and easiness in communication. Besides, as traditional Asian troupes began touring in Europe and America in 1920s and 30s, Western attitudes toward Asian theatre developed as they got the chance to see and hear Chinese opera, Japanese kabuki and Balinese dance. Thus, contemporary European theatre directors saw the influence of Asian theatre forms in their own approach with intercultural and international encounters.Within this context, the work of Ariane Mnouchkine and the Théâtre du Soleil stands out with their unique way of producing plays and understanding of theatre. This study aims at first examining the historical development of this collective theatre company along with Mnouchkine?s way of approaching theatre. Since their work cannot be separated from intercultural debates, the second part of the study focuses on what intercultural theatre means and reflects in contemporary theatre, defining the term with others that come with it such as intracultural, multicultural or crosscultural and showing its historical development with some examples from both western point of view as well as the methods of artists such as Peter Brook and from non-western perspectives and the voices of artists from African, Japanese and Indian cultures.The overall purpose is to analyze Mnouchkine?s and her company?s collaborative and intercultural productions and approaches which admirably explore the legacies of European and Russian theatre practitioners as well as recuperates ?other? techniques and traditions from Asian theatres by focusing specifically on the company?s Shakespeare adaptations, which composes the main goal of this study, finally situating the company?s productions in intercultural theatre.