Downtown Tokyo-based theater company, tpt (Theater Project Tokyo)'s 50th memorial production since their foundation in 1993 is "A Number," the latest work by Caryl Churchill, one of Britain's most important and prolific contemporary dramatists. Written and premiered in 2002, this work is about human cloning and fundamental questions it exposes about the age-old issue of nature or nurture in the formation of an individual's character.
Tpt this time called on one of the most engaging young directors in British theater, 31-year-old Sacha Wares, as director -- her most recent work includes co-creating and co-directing "Guantanamo," the controversial Olivier Award nominated play about the prisoners recently held in the Guantanamo bay camp. The company cast the young actor Toru Tezuka to play three cloned sons with veteran Katsuya Kobayashi as the father, Salter.
One drizzling spring evening recently, I visited their rehearsal room in tpt's homeground, Benisan Pit theater complex and asked Sacha Wares about her first production in Tokyo.