In the intersection of the Greek chorus, classic Japanese theatre forms, and martial arts lies the Suzuki Method of Actor Training, developed by Japanese theatre director and writer Tadashi Suzuki. Suzuki is the founder and director of the Suzuki Company of Toga (SCOT) and, along with American artist Anne Bogart, co-founder of the Saratoga International Theatre Institute (SITI Company). As a physical training technique, the Suzuki Method is unique and swiftly gaining popularity in the United States, perhaps due to how it counteracts Suzuki’s belief that typical Western training, based on Stanislavski’s system, “stresses the body only from the head up.”

Awareness of Body

The Suzuki Method consists of sequences of precise and intense physical movements, typically performed in unison in a group, designed to heighten the performers’ awareness of their bodies. With a focus on center, these exercises not only improve actors’ strength and agility, they also work to develop energy, focus, and concentration. Typical movements might incorporate squats, stomps, and balances, performed with a rigid upper body and neutral facial expressions. Frequently, the physical exercises are paired with instrumental music or actors reciting a group choral text. Suzuki Method also focuses on releasing energy on the breath, similar to athletes in moments of great physical exertion. Suzuki’s goal in this training is to help actors develop an athletic prowess that also informs their emotional intensity on stage – which Suzuki describes as an “animal energy.”

Cultural Fusion

Using unison movement, group choral speak, and precise movement sequences, the influence of Greek theatre, martial arts, and Japanese Noh and Kabuki on the Suzuki Method are clear. These disciplines all share a common rigor, focus, ritual, and formal presentation. Suzuki gleans inspiration from these art forms not only in his training method, but also his aesthetic as a director, an eclectic visual display that he describes as “borrowed from many cultures, always very physical.” It is no wonder that Suzuki is drawn toward classic texts, having directed the Greek tragedies Trojan Women, Oedipus, Electra, Shakespeare’s King Lear, and the French classic Cyrano de Bergerac. As his aesthetic weaves together different yet similar art forms, these classic texts also have themes that transcend culture and time.

High School Training

SITI Company offers a Summer Theater Workshop for adults and emerging professionals at Skidmore College, where students can earn college credit. High school students who want to get a leg up on competition can start studying now with the books The Way of Acting: The Theatre Writings of Tadashi Suzuki by Suzuki and The Theatre of Tadashi Suzuki by Ian Carruthers.