"I'd like 'The Tempest' I am creating to be on the smallest scale ever, but as it's a very spacious stage at the New National Theatre, Tokyo, it won't have the most compact set. Nonetheless, I will try to present it as stories from within the confines of one man's memory."
With those two sentences, 57-year-old director Akira Shirai astounded a press conference held at the NNTT last month for the launch of its upcoming new production.
After all, among William Shakespeare's 37 plays few can rival the dramatic setting and effects of "The Tempest," and most people there had expected Shirai to announce a spectacular staging of this supernatural epic — and certainly not to tell them how small he wanted to make it.