After 15 years of entertaining audiences in Japan and abroad, the actors of Saitama Gold Theater will take the stage for the last time with “Mizu no Eki” (“The Water Station”) this month.
“I’ll miss it a lot and I’m sad that the troupe is ending, though I don’t see any alternative because we’ve all simply become much older,” says Mitsuyo Obuchi, 75, in a rehearsal room at Saitama Arts Theater in Saitama.
Fellow actor Toshiko Tsumura echoes that sentiment, saying, “I’m 86 now, and I think I’ve reached my personal time limit, but I feel sorry for younger members who joined when they were 55 and are only in their early 70s now. They could still do so much more. I wish we could continue, but Saitama Arts Theater has decided now’s the time to wind down the company.”