Stage Sep 18, 2020
Shuttered venues and a lack of subsidies have added to dwindling audience numbers to create worry for performers.
Stage Sep 15, 2020
Children's puppet shows help bunraku master endure coronavirus shutdown
by Junko Fujita
Kanjuro Kiritake says the pandemic has left him worrying for the future of his art form.
Stage Jun 4, 2020
COVID-19 plays the spoiler as stages try to reopen in Japan
by Philip Patrick
Even in the age of COVID-19, the show must go on, and go on it will. Theater lovers suffering from withdrawal symptoms as a result of cancellations prompted by the coronavirus will be relieved to learn that a number of companies are busily formulating plans ...
Stage May 21, 2020
Japan's acting troupes turn your home into a stage
by Nobuko Tanaka
With the curtains remaining closed at theaters across Japan, some acting troupes are adopting new methods of reaching their audiences.
Stage Mar 13, 2020
Conquering history and conquering the stage with Ken Watanabe
by Nobuko Tanaka
Japanese actor Ken Watanabe returns to 'Pizarro' 35 years after his last performance in the play, this time in the lead role as the titular Spanish conquistador.
Stage Feb 5, 2020
Updating 'Romeo and Juliet' in a bid to fight prejudice in Japan
by Nobuko Tanaka
Wishing Chong brings an all-male version of 'Romeo and Juliet,' set in post-war Western Japan, to the stage in Tokyo.
Stage Jan 31, 2020
Bringing Haruki Murakami's 'The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle' to Japan's stages
by Nobuko Tanaka
Murakami's enigmatic masterpiece has been adapted for Japanese stage for the first time, with Songha and Daichi Watanabe taking on the role of Toru Okada.
Stage Jan 25, 2020
The art of condensing Shakespeare's oeuvre
by Nobuko Tanaka
Shuntaro Fujita brings "Tempo 12-nen no Shakespeare" to Tokyo, modernising a story that encompases elements from each of the Bard's 37 plays.
Stage Jan 17, 2020
To kill or not to kill: that is the question in 'Death Note: The Musical'
by Yukari Tanaka
A new version of "Death Note: The Musical" takes to the stage in Tokyo, with hopes of challenging people's perceptions of justice.
Stage Jan 10, 2020
Yoshitaka Hori: The man on a mission to export Japanese musicals
by Yukari Tanaka
HoriPro Inc. CEO and Chairman, Yoshitaka Hori, wants to take Japanese musicals out to the world and compete with the likes of Broadway and the West End.
Stage Jan 3, 2020
'Fortune' updates Faust's devilish deal
by Nobuko Tanaka
Playwright Simon Stephens turns to ideas of terror for his British-Japanese transformative theatrical trip.
Stage | 2019 in Review Dec 20, 2019
The year that musicals took on Japanese stages
by Nobuko Tanaka
While song and dance kept audiences flocking to theaters in Japan in 2019, the non-musical side was kept afloat by established dramatists rather than new faces