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…
Premonitions from the Past / Hauntings from the Future / Performance Experiments in Kyoto
Paper given online at the International Federation for Theatre Research Conference, Galway, July 16 2021. Abstract Kyoto’s annual international performing arts festival, Kyoto Experiment (KEX), marked its tenth anniversary in October 2019 and with it the end of a decade-long run for festival founder and director Yusuke Hashimoto. The 2020 edition of the festival, led…
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….
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.
Translation of Yotaro Aux Pays Des Yokai for SPAC
In November 2020, my partner Mika Eglinton and I translated the play Yotaro Aux Pays Des Yokai for a revival at the Shizuoka Performing Arts Center (SPAC) in December 2020. It was originally written and directed by French-Swiss duo Jean Lambert-Wild and Lorenzo Malaguerra and premiered at SPAC in February 2019. By popular demand, the…
Book chapter in 漂流の演劇 – 維新派のパースペクティブ [Lit. Theatre Adrift: The Ishinha Perspective] Osaka UP
A chapter I wrote on a site-specific production by the erstwhile Osaka-based theatre company Ishinha was published in a new book looking at the company’s work and legacy.
Profile on Multimedia Artist Hiroko Tanahashi
This article explores key elements of Hiroko Tanahashi’s life and career as a multimedia artist who creates immersive worlds for Post Theater in Berlin and Stuttgart.
On Theatre E9, a new black box venue in Kyoto
Theatre E9 Kyoto was launched in June 2019 and has quickly gained a reputation for producing challenging performance work. What’s at stake in creating a new black box theatre in 2019-2020? How does it tie into the wider regional and national theatre scene?
Andrew Eglinton 