Thirteen years ago, when Hideki Noda's Yumeno Yuminsha theater company was all the rage, the acclaim that greeted his then-new play "Tomei Ningen no Yuge (The Hot Air of an Invisible Man)" caused him nothing but artistic distress.
As Noda, 48, explains in the program for his current restaging of the play at the New National Theater in Tokyo, the uncritical acclaim heaped on "Tomei Ningen" caused him to question what he was doing as a director. Soon after, he broke up his 17-year-old company at the peak of its popularity, and took a yearlong career break in London.
Back then, he says, he felt the gap between his intention to challenge and disturb his audiences, and their willingness to take everything at face value, was too wide to bridge. And as he said in a recent interview, the willingness of many Japanese people to be led was, for example, exactly what made Aum Shinrikyo possible.