Stage

After eight years as artistic director for drama at the New National Theatre, Tokyo, Keiko Miyata, 60, is now tackling her final program there before passing the baton to 39-year-old Eriko Ogawa, who is set to become the theater's youngest-ever director in September. Rather than ...

Choreographer Philippe Decoufle describes his new circus-inspired show, "Nouvelles Pieces Courtes" ("New Short Pieces"), as a "sort of visual and physical mind game." That's not surprising as the 56-year-old Frenchman has fused dance with dizzying aerial choreography, sly acrobatics and the clever use of video ...

Ahead of the opening of 'The King and I' in London on June 21, the award-winning actor calls on young Japanese to step outside their comfort zone.

Tetsuya Kumakawa speaks about his most recent project, "Cleopatra," in a way that's as grand as the Egyptian queen herself. "Nobody except me could have created this fantastic work," he tells The Japan Times. "I hope it remains a ballet classic for hundreds of years, ...

The 72nd annual Tony Awards are being presented at New York City's storied Radio City Music Hall on June 11 (8 a.m. Japan time), but that doesn't mean those of us in Japan have to miss out. Wowow is rolling out its red carpet to ...

When Ludwig van Beethoven dipped his toe into the world of opera in the early 19th century, the composer may have had the concept of freedom on his mind. There's a fantastic moment in "Fidelio" when prisoners emerge from a dungeon and begin to sing. ...

Contemporary dance seemed to enter the wider arts consciousness in Japan around the turn of the century, when there was a pronounced upsurge in the number of performances, festivals and competitions. Reflecting that rising enthusiasm, Takao Norikoshi published the encyclopedic "Contemporary Dance Thorough Guide" in ...

For casual fans of film, the name Martin McDonagh only became familiar after the movie he wrote, directed and produced, "Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri," became the talk of this year's awards season. Actors Frances McDormand and Sam Rockwell both won Oscars for their performances ...

When Cirque du Soleil was founded in Canada in 1984, it redefined the idea of the circus. Its latest show, "Kurios: Cabinet of Curiosities," lives up to the troupe's unique reputation of being about more than just jugglers and acrobats — though those characters ...

This hasn't been a great year for social media. Internet addiction has been a hot topic, as have privacy issues, and there has even been a movement to #DeleteFacebook. Last month, Satoshi Miyagi, artistic director of the Shizuoka Performing Arts Center, which runs World Theatre ...

When Akira Shirai first read the script for "Ballyturk," he quickly understood why its creator, Irish playwright Enda Walsh, said the work "should bypass the intellect and go straight into your bones." The 60-year-old artistic director at Kanagawa Arts Theatre in Yokohama was mulling over ...

A new play based on the abduction of Japanese citizens to North Korea has been captivating and educating audiences at the National Theatre in London. "The Great Wave," which tells the fictional story of one family's fight to find out what happened to their missing ...