Sex and violence can be a good draw to get crowds out to the theater, but don't underestimate the power of actress Shinobu Terajima to bring audiences to a show.
The 42-year-old Kyoto native is a star of stage, screen and television in Japan. International audiences may know her from her award-winning performance in the 2010 film "Caterpillar," which won her a best actress award at the Berlinale film festival. The film, directed by the late Koji Wakamatsu, featured Terajima in the role of Shigeko, the wife of a soldier who loses all his limbs in battle and turns into a wriggling sex maniac.
Now, the actress takes on another racy role in "Kindan no Ratai" ("All Nudity Shall Be Punished"), the masterwork of Brazilian playwright and novelist Nelson Falcao Rodrigues (1912-80).