For the past two decades, the Tokyo-based Chelfitsch theater company has been creating a form of eco-critical performance in Japan, confronting political and environmental crises of national and global significance.
The company rose to international prominence under the leadership of founder, playwright and director Toshiki Okada with a series of works in response to the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake. This includes “Current Location” (2012), “Ground and Floor” (2013) and “Eraser Mountain” (2019). Among the different thematic strands that connect these works is the question of Japan’s identity against the backdrop of mounting ecological, economic and population issues.
In October 2021 and 2022, the company held a series of workshops in Tokyo with the purpose of creating “Japanese theater with people whose native language is not Japanese.”