What do Nicolas Billon, Morris Panych, Hannah Moscovitch and George F. Walker have in common?
Theyre big in Japan, thanks largely to one individual: Toyoshi Yoshihara. In a career spanning nearly half a century, Yoshi as hes known to the playwrights has translated more than 50 Canadian plays, for which hes earned honours like the Order of Canada in 2003.
But while the artists whose work he translates are in the spotlight, Yoshi stays behind the scenes. In fact, he scarcely makes contact with the playwrights themselves.
Translating a play without building a relationship with its playwright might make Yoshis work seem more technical than artistic.
But according to Billon, whos had three plays translated by Yoshi The Elephant Song, Iceland and Butcher its both.
I think theres a real balance between art and science for translation. I think it cant be only one or the other.
Whatever the nature of Yoshis work, its a labour of love. He selects, translates and helps secure a Japanese production for the plays he works on, all of which often takes place before requesting permission from the playwright.
So how did a Japanese businessman fall head over heels for Canadian theatre?
It all has to do with language.
When I immigrated to Canada in 1970, I did not speak English that well, says Yoshi from his home in Tokyo. That was exactly why I started going to theatre.
Decades before Duolingo or Rosetta Stone, Canadian plays proved an ideal teacher.
Theatre was the only place where I could listen to the same conversations repeatedly to hone my English hearing skill. I saw the same show night after night until I completely understood what was said.
Panych remembers seeing him at Vancouvers Arts Club during this period, where Yoshi saw the playwright/performer in his first play, Last Call A Post-nuclear Cabaret.
He got to know us very well as an audience member, recalls Panych.
His first interest was learning the language, but then he fell in love with the theatre.
Yoshi had moved from Japan to Vancouver in order to establish a sales network for a Japanese trading company. Play translation took place in his spare time.
His process is solitary and straightforward: he needs only a script to begin, and his translations take between one and two months. The hardest part isnt the work itself, he claims, but finding a play worthy of translation.
To find one, I have to read as many as 20.
But he finds them.
Panych was impressed by Yoshis initiative.
He had already begun translating my work when he asked me if I minded, and I was flattered so he didnt have to persuade me.
Watching Canadian theatre helped Yoshi establish his image of Canada. Its one reason why he was so eager to export these stories back to Japan to dispel the myth that Canada was merely a rich and peaceful country with abundant natural beauty.
He accomplished this by sending home Japanese translations of George Rygas The Ecstasy Of Rita Joe, Lee MacDougalls High Life and George F. Walkers Problem Child, to name just a few.
Nearly four decades later, Yoshi has translated 73 plays, 53 of them Canadian. His dual knowledge of both Canadian theatre and Japanese audiences allows him to stay active despite having returned to Japan in 2011.
For instance, he recognizes some work might not play well overseas like David Frenchs Salt-Water Moon.
[Frenchs] plays are great but cant be fully appreciated unless you know the peculiarity of Newfoundland culture, says Yoshi, of which Japanese audiences are completely ignorant.
On the other hand, some work can overcome cultural differences.
Moscovitch was initially nervous as to how East Of Berlin, in which the children of Nazis explore the aftermath of the Holocaust, would be received in a formerly Axis-aligned country like Japan.
But thats precisely why Yoshi knew it would resonate. He timed his translation to coincide with a national conversation about war crimes specifically, the Japanese militarys involvement in the Nanking Massacre.
East Of Berlin was so successful in Japan that Moscovitch has been commissioned to write about the devastation brought upon Hiroshima by the first atomic bomb.
Yoshis interests dont extend to film he considers it too explanatory to leave anything to viewers imaginations but fortunately, he hasnt sworn it off completely. The 2015 film adaptation of Billons The Elephant Song was how he discovered the play, and more translations of Billons work soon followed.
Yoshis work is driven by passion, but for the playwrights whose work he translates its all about trust.
He won Billons easily.
When youre being translated into a language you dont speak, theres really no way to know how good a job the person has done. [But because he] had such a track record, particularly with Canadian plays, it didnt make any sense not to go with Yoshi.
Walker says that trust is often rewarded. And when it isnt, well, thats the life of a playwright.
Its not unique to translations, either. Interpreters have always been an integral part of theatre be they directors, designers or the actors who speak the lines themselves.
The giving away of plays is a great trust exercise, says Panych, but thats the nature of playwriting. The text is never the end of it.
Yoshi rewards this trust by being not only an interpreter but also an ally.
I think it really makes a difference for a Tokyo theatre to get recommendations from someone they trust, says Billon. But perhaps more importantly, he was very much a champion of the play, and thats kind of what you want in a translator.
When Billon had the opportunity to travel to Japan to watch Yoshis translation of Butcher, he felt satisfied the work was successful, despite not understanding any Japanese.
I think [the production] really captured the essence of the characters. You dont need a translation for that.
Thousands of kilometres from their point of origin, Canadian plays still hit home. Perhaps its no surprise considering the ways we swap culture within our own borders.
Moscovitch says no matter where she goes, audiences are interested in comparing experiences of citizenship. For Panych, shared humanity may be what makes these stories universal.
People everywhere have hearts and minds. Tapping into them is, and always has been, a deeply personal pursuit.
Yoshi agrees. And though he just turned 80, theres plenty more he wants to get onstage.
Jordan Tannahills Concord Floral and Late Company are the next Canadian plays I would like to translate.
So much for retirement.
stage@nowtoronto.com