"Propeller may be another English group of actors doing a play by their compatriot, Shakespeare, but this is something quite different. How different? . . . Well, you will understand what I mean if you see it!"
Playwright, director and actor Hideki Noda, who offered that intriguing quote the other day, is one of the most important figures in Japanese contemporary theater. But he made the comment from his position as the new artistic director of the publicly funded Tokyo Metropolitan Art Space in Ikebukuro — where, to the astonishment of all, he has singled out the British all-male Propeller theater company to stage his debut production.
Founded in 1997 by theater director Edward Hall, Propeller may be virtually unknown in Japan, but back home and elsewhere it has built a solid reputation. In 2002, Hall, now 41, was nominated for a Best Director Laurence Olivier Award for "Rose Rage," his Propeller adaptation of Shakespeare's "Henry VI"; while in 2007 he and his company won a prestigious OBIE (Off-Broadway Theater Award bestowed by The Village Voice) for their "Taming of The Shrew."