Oldal 120 [120]
TRANSLATING SILENCE: CORRELATIONS BETWEEN BECKETT, CHEKHOV, AND HIRATA
The silence is enhanced by the absence of the third person, and the
ritualistic pattern in the silent atmosphere is represented by whispering and
astonishment. Ihis exchange of roles can be seen as that of the protagonist
(Shite) and the supporting actor (Waki). When they change places, similar to
suriashi, shuffling with sliding feet in Noh dance, “their feet make no sound.
Beckett notes that they should not be seen to leave the stage.”'! In this way,
each woman in turn becomes the central figure of the play by entering and
leaving the stage in silence. Viewed in the light of the categorization of Noh
drama, Come and Go uniquely belongs to both “realistic Noh” and “fantasy
Noh” as two of the three women onstage play the role of Waki to purge the
agonies of the ghostlike third woman. The effective use of silence is discovered
in this double structure of Noh drama.”
SILENCE IN CHEKHOV’S THE THREE SISTERS IN COMPARISON
WITH HIRATA’S PRODUCTION
Like Beckett, Chekhov emphasizes absurdity and silent atmosphere onstage.
While the three women in Chekhov’s The Three Sisters are represented
realistically with their social background because they are given a more
specific, or concrete, situation and relationships, those in Beckett’s Come and
Go look more like identical objects wearing the same costume in different
colors without detailed status. This section focuses on how silence in The Three
Sisters is beneficial for understanding Beckett’s dramaturgy as well as Hirata’s.
We can say that silence is given prominence not only by Beckett but also by
Chekhov in that in their works, “a love of solitude, stillness, and silence has
no necessary connection with a religious impulse, since these preferences are
found in people of all faiths and none.” The three sisters, who talk a lot to
pass the time, indulge in but are also tired of their stagnant situation, which
may be symbolized as their waiting in silence with their hope for a new life in
Moscow. On the contrary, the characters in Beckett’s Come and Go represent
silence itself through their non-verbal movements, gestures and costumes, as
well as through the lighting and stage props.
As analyzed by Tomio Yamanouchi, “the lives of the characters in Chekhov's
drama are full of absurdity, and it may well be said that his plays are theatre of the
absurd in modern realism,”'* which implies that Chekhov was the predecessor
1 Tbid., 89.
This section is based on my paper, i. e. Yoshiko Takebe: Analysis of Beckettian Noh for
Contemporary Performing Art, Shujitsu English Studies 30 (2014), 229-243.
133 Mary Bryden: Samuel Beckett and the Idea of God, London, Macmillan, 1998, 178.
Tomio Yamanouchi: Dramaturgy, Tokyo, Kinokuniya, 1979, 103; my translation.
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