Hideki Noda, head of the cutting-edge theater company Noda Map, wrote and directs its latest production, "Nisesaku: Sakura no Mori no Mankai no Shita (A Fake: Under the Cherry Trees in Full Bloom)." He also acts, as the King of Hida, often running with all his considerable force along the sakura-draped 36-meter-deep stage.
Still only 45, Noda has been sprinting ahead as leader of the contemporary Japanese theater scene for more than 20 years, and this play, first staged 12 years ago by his previous company, Yumeno Yuminsha, is one of many to have confirmed that position. Two years ago, his award-winning "Pandora's Bell" further widened his audience despite, or perhaps because of, its uncompromising exploration of Japanese responsibility for World War II, which pointed to the dictatorial military leaders, but also the ordinary people who just fell in line.
Four years after Yumeno Yuminsha's first critically acclaimed production of "Sakura," Noda dissolved the company and went to London, where he spent a year absorbing Western theatrical method and essence. Since returning to Tokyo in 1994 and forming Noda Map, he has been working at an awesome rate, staging one or two original plays each year.