壁に挟まった二つの大きなクラウンが意味するものは・・・
一ヶ月ほど前にFBでクラウン・ロネが、宙に浮いてビルの間に挟まった二つの大きなクラウンの風船を紹介してくれて、それがボストンにあるというので行って見てきました。最寄りの駅で降りて当てずっぽうに歩いていると角を曲がったところに小さな人溜りができていて、そこに確かにありました。
子供達ははしゃいで大人たちは皆カメラを向けていました。一体何なの？と誰もが持つ疑問に答えるように説明がありました。これはサミュエル・ベケット(1906-1989)というアイルランドの劇作家のエンドゲームという芝居に出てくるナッグ（男）とネル（女）を表しているそうで、調べると劇中では二人とも足をなくしてドラム缶の中で生きるという役柄。特にクラウンという設定ではありません。ロネとジージは明るいオープンなクラウンですが、これは何とも重苦しいキャラクターです。ベケットは不条理の世界を表す作家と言われていますが、この二つのクラウンが狭い空間に折重なるようにひょうきんな顔で浮いているのはある意味不気味です。
ネットでこのエンドゲームを調べていたら、日本でも上演されたことがあるとのこと。佐藤信演出でナッグが三谷昇、ネルが渡辺美沙子とありました。三谷氏は大学の頃にお世話になり卒業後二度ほど芝居を観に行き、お宅に泊めていただいたこともあります。以後不義理をしていました。昨年亡くなったことを知り、思いがけない時に優しかった三谷さんに想いを馳せ自分の不甲斐なさに後悔ばかりが残っています
About one month ago, Clown Rone introduced me to an exhibition of two big clown heads floating between the buildings. Since they are in Boston, I went to see them. Getting off the train at the nearest station, when I was walking down the street, I found small children gathering and clown heads were in the area.
The children were excited and adults were taking photos. There was an explanation to answer everyone’s question why clowns were there. According to the explanation, the two clowns were Nagg and Nell who were in the “Endgames” by Irish playwright Samuel Beckett (1906-1986). Bothe Nagg and Nell didn’t have legs and stayed in steel drums, but those two were not set as clowns in the play. While my favorite clown, Rone & Gigi are open and funny, Nagg and Nell are dark and depressing characters. It is said that Beckett expressed absurdity in his play. The two funny-faced clowns, Nagg and Nell, were stuck in the narrow building space. It was creepy, in a way.
When I was checking Endgame on the net, I found out that the play appeared in Japan a couple decades ago. Makoto Sato directed and Negg was played by Noboru Mitani and Nell was played by Misako Watanabe. Mr. Mitani is a familiar name to me, because he came to our dramatic club for teaching when I was in college and I went to his theater performances a couple of times after graduation. We were well taken care of by him and we even stayed at his house. I haven’t contact him at all ever since. I knew that he passed away last year and I feel very sorry about it. I was glad to see his name coincidentally and at the same time I regret that I didn’t express my thanks to him.
2024/02/10
