The motto of the care site is also the mindset for creating plays
This book explains the importance of negative capability, the ability to endure situations where there are no easy answers. The author is a psychiatrist with 40 years of clinical experience. It offers insights for modern people who are impatient and seeking answers.
Asahi Sensho/1,430 yen.
Negative capability is the ability to tolerate situations that seem unanswerable and unmanageable, to be able to be in the midst of uncertainty, wonder, and doubt without rushing to find proof or reason.
In today's world, we strive to find problems as quickly as possible and resolve them as quickly as possible - this is what we might call positive capability, the opposite of negative capability. However, in reality, it is not uncommon for no answers or solutions to be found, and it is important to be there for patients who find themselves in a situation where no answers can be found, especially in end-of-life care, psychiatric care, and other care settings. This is because an efficient and swift solution can mean discarding many things.
I always introduce this phrase first when I'm creating a play or in a rehearsal room, because I think this ability is very important in creative work. A director's job is to make decisions. They present a vision and there are so many decisions to make: the quality of the acting, the actors' movements, the art, costumes, lighting, etc.
I would like the actors and staff to make a decision as quickly as possible, but I always introduce these words at the beginning to tell them that it's not going to be an easy decision. So that even if they do make a decision, they won't stop thinking about it.
Live arts like theater slowly but surely lose their vitality if they just do what's set in stone. I want to go through rehearsals and the performance in a state of always moving towards something better, rather than thinking this is the right answer or that it's complete. These words are what prepare me for that.
