Never at risk of being run of the mill, Chelfitsch — which took its name from a baby's pronunciation of the English word "selfish" and usually stylizes itself with a lowercase "c" — is one of Japan's foremost contemporary theater companies, despite only rarely performing here. Instead, it can mostly be found revealing the real state of today's Japan to sellout audiences worldwide with a passion unique among its peers.
However, the company's popularity is such that wherever it performs — from Lebanon to Croatia, the United States, China, Brazil and beyond — the audience usually includes a few itinerant Japanese theatergoers, with lots typically turning up for the world premieres it often stages in Europe.
But without trading in Orientalism, manga or samurai swords, how has Chelfitsch gained such status since its 2004 debut with "Five Days in March" — about a couple's five-day sex-fest escape from ugly reality as the Iraq war started in 2003 — at the Kunstenfestivaldesarts in Belgium?