ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on three kinds of interaction with naturalism: the visual presentation of the stage image; the progress of the characters' action; and the plotting of temporality. The movement away from "straight" naturalism, in East Asian performances of William Shakespeare and of Western classic drama in general, emerged just after Euro-American practices and theories of intercultural theatre by prominent directors like Peter Brook and Ariane Mnouchkine. The performativity of combining naturalism with Asian theatre idioms for Shakespeare becomes more intercultural in emphasis when productions tour internationally. The framing by which Ninagawa's Macbeth performed the inside/outside dynamic of interculturality opposed – and exposed – the idea of the intercultural as the mutual exemplarity of Shakespeare and another cultural form, where each could be identified as simultaneously the other. The Ryutopia Noh Theatre Shakespeare Series' experiments in synergizing traditions of naturalism and Noh can also carry political overtones.
