From Agit-prop to Agit-docs in 1930s British Theatre

This article was published in Konan Women’s University Journal of Literature and Culture (59):2023 pp.47-57. Bibliographic data | Article download link Abstract Between 1931 and 1940, the Salford based Theatre of Action (TOA) produced a series of agit-prop plays that experimented with proto-documentary theatre forms, including the political review and the living newspaper. Among these plays was Newsboy (1935),…

Read More

Translation of “YAMAYAMA (I Would Prefer Not To)”

My translation of the play YAMAYAMA (I Would Prefer Not To), written by Matsubara Shuntaro in 2018, appears in Volume 8 of the ENGEKI: Japanese Theatre In the New Millennium series, published by the Japan Playwrights Association (JPA). The ENGEKI series (“engeki” means theatre in Japanese) brings new writing in Japan to an international audience….

Read More

On Kyoto Experiment 2022

This article was originally published in the Japan Times on September 29 2022. The Japanese government’s plan to ease visa restrictions for independent tourists and abolish the daily arrival cap by early October as well as the prospect of a nationwide travel discount program in the autumn are all welcome news for the country’s pandemic-stricken tourist hubs….

Read More

Translation of “Biome”

In May 2022, Mika Eglinton and I translated the play Biome for a production by the Umeda Arts Theatre (Osaka) staged at the Toshima Arts and Culture Theater in Tokyo from the 8th to the 12th of June 2022. The play was written by playwright and director Ueda Kumiko and it was directed by Takashi Isshiki. The…

Read More

Echigo-Tsumari and Setouchi triennials: Building communities in a time of upheaval

In a time of interlinked global emergencies, the arts play an important role in providing spaces for people to reflect and envision alternative futures. However, do large-scale in-person art events still have a place in our modern reality, given that sustainable living is at the forefront of public discourse and many modes of artistic expression and communication have gone online during the pandemic?

On Theater Commons Tokyo 2022 – “Unsynchronized Voices”

How can contemporary theater affirm its raison d’etre at a time when going to see it live is viewed by many as an “unessential” activity? Theater Commons Tokyo tackles this issue head on with its program titled “Unsynchronized Voices.”

Kyoto Experiment Autumn 2021

This article was originally published in the Japan Times newspaper on October 2 2021. In these pandemic times, the digital tools that connect people in the absence of travel have, by necessity, led to our voices taking precedence over our bodies. Fewer domains have felt the effects of this disembodiment more acutely than the performing arts. In…

Read More

Translation of Kara Juro’s Mary Poppins with her Upside–down Umbrella

In March 2021, my partner Mika Eglinton and I translated the play Mary Poppins with her Upside–down Umbrella for a production at the Shizuoka Performing Arts Park in April 2021. The play was written by renowned playwright and director Kara Juro and it was directed by artistic director of the Shizuoka Performing Arts Centre (SPAC), Miyagi Satoshi….

Read More

Kyoto Experiment Spring 2021

The Kyoto Experiment (KEX) performing arts festival is marking the beginning of a new era. Not only does it have three new program directors at the helm, it also has a fresh logo and renewed focus on experimentation to boot.