Nobuko, Lady Albery (born 1940) is a

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

author and

theatrical Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors or actresses, to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The perfor ...

producer and the widow of

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national id ...

impresario An impresario (from the Italian ''impresa'', "an enterprise or undertaking") is a person who organizes and often finances concerts, plays, or operas, performing a role in stage arts that is similar to that of a film or television producer. H ...

, Sir

Donald Albery Sir Donald Arthur Rolleston Albery (19 June 1914 – 14 September 1988) was an English theatre impresario who did much to translate the adventurous spirit of London in the 1960s onto the stage. Biography He was born into a theatrical famil ...

Early life

She was born Nobuko Uenishi in

Kobe Kobe ( , ; officially , ) is the capital city of Hyōgo Prefecture Japan. With a population around 1.5 million, Kobe is Japan's seventh-largest city and the third-largest port city after Tokyo and Yokohama. It is located in Kansai region, w ...

, Japan, the daughter of parents Keiji and Sodako. She attended

Waseda University , mottoeng = Independence of scholarship , established = 21 October 1882 , type = Private , endowment = , president = Aiji Tanaka , city = Shinjuku , state = Tokyo , country = Japan , students = 47,959 , undergrad = 39,382 , postgrad ...

and later

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then- Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, ...

from 1961 to 1963 where she received her Masters in drama.

International flavour

Through her theatre work she helped to bring several adaptations of Western plays to Japan, beginning in 1963 with ''

Gone with the Wind Gone with the Wind most often refers to: * ''Gone with the Wind'' (novel), a 1936 novel by Margaret Mitchell * ''Gone with the Wind'' (film), the 1939 adaptation of the novel Gone with the Wind may also refer to: Music * ''Gone with the Wind'' ...

''. Other plays include: ''

Fiddler on the Roof ''Fiddler on the Roof'' is a musical theatre, musical with music by Jerry Bock, lyrics by Sheldon Harnick, and musical theatre#Book musicals, book by Joseph Stein, set in the Pale of Settlement of Russian Empire, Imperial Russia in or around 190 ...

'' (1964), ''

Les Misérables ''Les Misérables'' ( , ) is a French historical novel by Victor Hugo, first published in 1862, that is considered one of the greatest novels of the 19th century. In the English-speaking world, the novel is usually referred to by its original ...

'' (1987), ''Oscar'' (1994), as well translator into Japanese of ''

Oliver! ''Oliver!'' is a coming-of-age stage musical, with book, music and lyrics by Lionel Bart. The musical is based upon the 1838 novel '' Oliver Twist'' by Charles Dickens. It premiered at the Wimbledon Theatre, southwest London in 1960 before ...

'' (1968) and ''

Miss Saigon ''Miss Saigon'' is a stage musical by Claude-Michel Schönberg and Alain Boublil, with lyrics by Boublil and Richard Maltby Jr. It is based on Giacomo Puccini's 1904 opera '' Madame Butterfly'', and similarly tells the tragic tale of a doomed ...

'' (1992). Despite being a native of Japan, she has lived abroad most of her life and considers herself an outsider to Japan. This enabled her to bring a different perspective to theatre in Japan by challenging how plays are produced there and what Japanese audiences will respond to.

Personal life

Her first husband was author

Ivan Morris Ivan Ira Esme Morris (29 November 1925 – 19 July 1976) was an English writer, translator and editor in the field of Japanese studies. Biography Ivan Morris was born in London, of mixed American and Swedish parentage to Edita Morris () and Ir ...

(son of author Ira Victor Morris, grandson of diplomat Ira Nelson Morris, and great-grandson of meat-packer Nelson Morris). She later married Sir

Bibliography

*''Samurai'' (1969 - under the name Nobuko Morris, co-authored with

and Paul Varley) *''Balloon Top'' (1978) *''The House of Kanze'' (1985) *''Absurd Courage'' (1987) *''Japanese Pride and Prejudice'' (2002)

References

Sources

* Michael Church, ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' ...

'', 28 September 1994, "Just a Girl Who Can't Say Noh", p. 32 {{DEFAULTSORT:Albery, Nobuko Living people 1940 births Japanese theatre managers and producers Morris family (meatpacking) Japanese expatriates in the United States New York University alumni Wives of knights