For Mana Katsura's latest contributions to The Japan Times, see below:
'The person I hate most is my mother. Because she gave birth to me, I have to walk toward old age and death," Barcelona-born Angelica Liddell declared during a recent trip to Japan, her dress soft, smooth and elegant in stark contrast to her ...
Ask any Japanese theater lover to list his or her favorite foreign directors, and most would include Peter Brook, the English-born, long-time French resident who has been bringing his productions here and encouraging audiences to explore new artistic realms since way back in 1973. Among ...
The avant-garde stage and film director, poet, critic, author and founder of the experimental theater group Tenjo Sajiki, Shuji Terayama (1935-83), influenced theater the world over with his iconoclastic plays such as "Mink Marie," "Heretics" and "Directions to Servants." From the early 1970s, his troupe ...
Street dance has been growing in popularity for years among younger generations in "Cool Japan," with displays often attracting crowds of passers-by. Though many artists perform alone in public, others have pooled their talents to help broaden their appeal. Among those, one standout is nine-member ...
Actress Kayoko Shiraishi is famed for her portrayals of male and female characters of all ages almost as if she were possessed by their souls. Last year in October, however, she left legions of fans lamenting when, after 22 years, she finally completed her "Kayoko ...
Though for more than 300 years it's only been performed by men and boys, kabuki exists in the public imagination as actors engulfed in hair and makeup, wearing elaborate costumes and striking ostentatious poses on a vast stage. Despite this, works by the Kinoshita Kabuki ...
Innovation adds sparkle to traditional forms Looking into the crystal ball of Japan's traditional performing arts in 2015 reveals a sparkling blend of change and tradition. In what is its 120th year, the film and theater company and pillar of kabuki, Shochiku, will mark the succession ...
As a playwright, stage director, Osaka University professor, manager of the Komaba Agora Theater in Tokyo and leader of the city's Seinendan theater company he formed in 1983, Oriza Hirata — whose "contemporary colloquial theater" set the scene for much of Japan's new drama ...
Last October I partook in a tour-style play in Yokohama that was titled "Tsurenakumo Aki no Kaze" (quoted from Basho's haiku on autumn wind) and directed by 49-year-old South Korean artist Seo Hyun-suk. The play's theme of marriage was related to its Japanese collaborators, Kyunasaka ...
As an actor and world-class theater, film and opera director, Robert Lepage has become renowned for his unconventional productions using high-tech devices. Now, though, Tokyo audiences can feast their eyes and minds on this 56-year-old French-Canadian's early masterpiece, 1987's "Le Polygraphe (Polygraph)," a play ...
