Stage Nov 20, 2019
Bringing a Greek tragedy to 21st-century Japan
by Nobuko Tanaka
Theater director Kunio Sugihara unveils his latest work, an adaptation of John Barton's 10-hour epic, "The Greeks"
Stage Apr 11, 2018
'Ballyturk' delivers a surreal yet exciting challenge
by Nobuko Tanaka
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 ...
Stage Mar 22, 2016
Strindberg's surrealistic 'Dream' heralds a pivotal era for KAAT
by Nobuko Tanaka
He doesn't officially become Kanagawa Arts Theatre's artistic director until April 1, but Akira Shirai wasn't fooling when he declared, "I aim to make KAAT (the official acronym of his Yokohama base) a place where we take a whole fresh look at theater's role ...
Stage Nov 26, 2014
French idol reflects on her Japanese droid son
by Mana Katsura
As a playwright, stage director, Osaka University professor, manager of the Komaba Agora Theater in Tokyo and leader of the city's Seinendan theater company he formed in 1983, Oriza Hirata — whose "contemporary colloquial theater" set the scene for much of Japan's new drama ...
Stage Jan 22, 2014
Komanosuke Takemoto: a rare voice of tradition
by Ayako Takahashi
The traditional performing art of bunraku (ningyō jōruri) involves three puppeteers together operating a cast of single puppets, with a gidayū bushi to the side comprising a story-teller (tayū) and a shamisen player (shamisen- hiki) seated on a round platform (yuka). Originally, the gidayū bushi ...
Stage Jan 8, 2014
Jo Kanamori talks dance in Japan
by Nobuko Tanaka
A15-minute drive from Niigata Station, just across the mighty Shinano River pouring into the sea from the Northern Alps, a massive oval-shaped hall sits amid rich green parkland. This is Niigata City Performing Arts Center, aka Ryutopia — the nation's only public theater with ...
Stage Dec 25, 2013
by Nobuko Tanaka
Although all Japan's 50 reactors have been shut down since September, cleaning up in the wake of the March 2011 meltdowns at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant is making very slow progress and tens of thousands of people still live in temporary ...
Events / Events Outside Tokyo Feb 1, 2013
Cirque offshoot 7 Fingers has lofty ambitions
by Nobuko Tanaka
Since first touring its native province of Quebec in 1984, the self-styled "multifaceted creative force" that is Canada's Cirque du Soleil has become a major global phenomenon with several permanent venues. In 2002, though, seven Cirque du Soleil members turned their backs on that massive ...