This article was originally published in the Japan Times newspaper on March 12 2014. Observing rehearsals by the physical-theater company Taihen for their upcoming “Over the Rainbow” show at ABC Hall in Osaka was in many ways a free-jazz experience. On a compositional level, the Taihen stage is an intimate meeting-ground between cast, crew, musicians…
Review of "Gear" an immersive, non-verbal theatre show in Kyoto
This article was originally published in the Japan Times newspaper on Feb 26 2014. Art Complex 1928, a contemporary performing-arts venue in central Kyoto, used to be a regional office of the Mainichi Shimbun national newspaper. Its 1920s Art Deco-inspired architecture — including a star-shaped balcony and windows by Goichi Takeda — has even been…
Dance, Kobe – Dance!
This article was originally published in the Japan Times newspaper on Feb 12 2014. Whatever springs to mind when you think of Kobe, it’s unlikely to be dance. Yet, from the fourth floor of a nondescript building in the port city’s multiethnic district of Shin-Nagata there shines forth a veritable beacon called Dance Box. Founded…
Tokyo Performing Arts Market 2014
This article was originally published in the Japan Times newspaper on Feb 5 2014. As befits its designation as a “Cultural City of East Asia 2014,” Yokohama is about to host Japan’s foremost annual platform for contemporary performing arts. Launched in 1995 as the Tokyo Performing Arts Market, the weeklong event moved to its present…
On Chiten's rendition of Brecht's "Fatzer" at Underthrow, Kyoto
This article was originally published in the Japan Times newspaper on Nov 13 2013. The term “metatheater” refers to devices in a play that break the so-called “fourth wall” — the illusion of theatrical reality — in order to involve the audience as critical participants in the production. Metatheatricality is a hallmark of early 20th-century…
Voices of Syria's war haunt Tokyo stage
This article was originally published in the Japan Times newspaper on Oct 30 2013. The war in Syria has been making headlines for more than two years now, but it’s made very little impact on the theater world in Japan. Next month, though, that’s set to change with the Tokyo staging of “The Fear of…
Kyoto Experiment #4
This article was originally published in the Japan Times newspaper on Oct 16 2013. Language, memory and identity politics are at the core of the fourth edition of Kyoto Experiment, the annual feast of progressive and experimental theater now being served up by organizers the Kyoto International Performing Arts Festival. Along with artists from Japan,…
Japan Syndrome – Takamine Tadasu
Japan Syndrome was part of a three year project led by contemporary Japanese artist Tadasu Takamine responding to the nuclear disaster at the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant following the Tohoku earthquake in March 2011. Mika Eglinton and I were commissioned by the then curator of Art Tower Mito, Mizuki Takahashi, to translate the Mito version subtitles…
Debris from the ‘dispersal zone’: digital documents, diegesis and the documentary theatre
An analysis of digital document formations in the wake of the August 2011 riots in London through a reading of the Tricycle Theatre’s verbatim play, The Riots.
Reflections on a Decade of Punchdrunk Theatre
In this article I examine the key themes, concepts, and methodologies that have informed Punchdrunk’s major works since 2003.
Andrew Eglinton 