This paper was submitted to the Degenerative Times and Generative Places: Performance and VR Working Group at ASTR, which took place on the 31st of October 2025. Abstract In these times of technological profligacy and societal disarray, Japan’s shōgekijō theatre persists as a site for rethinking community, intimacy, and testimony. This paper traces the migration of shōgekijō (Little…
Author: Andrew Eglinton
I am a theatre researcher based in Kobe, Japan, writing about contemporary performance in Japan and beyond.
Phantoms in third space: on the ethics of audience-performer spatial relations in two VR dance works by Yui Kawaguchi
Paper given at the International Federation for Theatre Research (IFTR) conference as part of the Intermediality and Performance working group at the University of Koln, on 11 June 2025. Abstract This paper questions the ethics of audience-performer spatial relations in two VR dance works by Berlin based choreographer, Yui Kawaguchi: Be thou still with me…
VR Theatre Review: “Omnibus Performance Vol.1”
This is a review of four short Japanese VR theatre pieces, presented by Mashiro Small Theater under the title “Omnibus Performance Vol.1”. These four 15-minute plays were created by “amateur” (a term that needs completely rethinking) groups and performed in the Mashiro Small Theater on the virtual social platform, VRChat. The program was performed on…
Translation of “Lynch (a Play)” by Yasuko Yokoshi
In early October, I co-translated (with Mika Eglinton) a text called “Lynch (a Play)” which was performed at Kyoto Experiment 2024 from 25-27 October. Kyoto-based director and choreographer, Yasuko Yokoshi, created an adaptation of Yoshiro Yoda Hatori’s award-winning play “Lynch,” alongside co-performers Masaru Kakio, Alain Sinandja, and Nanako Komatsu. Our translation was used for subtitles…
Yuriwaka VR: an EFL odyssey into in/completeness, in/equality, and multimodal mis/performance
Paper given at the International Association of Performing Language (IAPL) 9th Conference on 13 October 2024 at the Professional College of Arts and Tourism (Toyooka City, Hyogo Prefecture, Japan). Abstract: In the spring of 2024, I proposed to students in my research seminar to work on the translation and adaptation of a folktale called Yuriwaka…
Translation & Dramaturgy of “One Small Step” by Takuya Kato
I have been working on the co-translation (with Mika Eglinton) from Japanese to English of “One Small Step,” a new play by Kishida Award-winning playwright, Takuya Kato, that will premiere at the Charing Cross Theatre in London from 27 September to 9 October 2024. The play is being produced by Umeda Arts Theatre (Osaka/Tokyo) in…
Translation of “Der Rosenkavalier” by Hugo von Hofmannsthal
In January 2024, my partner Mika Eglinton and I translated the play Der Rosenkavalier by 19th century Austrian librettist Hugo von Hofmannsthal, for a production at the Shizuoka Performing Arts Park in January 2024. The translation from Japanese to English was used as surtitles for the production directed by Miyagi Satoshi Terauchi Ayako, with music by Nemoto Takuya, “Der…
On “L’ÎLE D’OR Kanemu-Jima” by Théâtre du Soleil
This article was originally published in the Japan Times on October 20 2023. In 2019, French theater director Ariane Mnouchkine traveled to Japan to receive the prestigious Kyoto Prize, awarded by the Inamori Foundation for “innovations to theatrical expression (that) have been globally influential.” In her lecture at the award ceremony, Mnouchkine recalled her first visit…
On “The Window of the Spaceship ‘In-Between'” by Chelfitsch
In October 2021 and 2022, the Chelfitsch theatre company held a series of workshops in Tokyo with the purpose of creating “Japanese theater with people whose native language is not Japanese.” The result was “The Window of the Spaceship ‘In-Between.'” This article looks at the genesis and development of that project.
On Gregory Doran’s visit to Konan Women’s University to view Shakespeare’s First Folio
This is a short text I wrote in commemoration of the visit to Konan Women’s University (KWU) of Royal Shakespeare Director Emeritus, Gregory Doran, to view the Library’s copy of Shakespeare’s First Folio.
Andrew Eglinton 