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…
Tag: Contemporary Japanese Theatre
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…
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.
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?
Kyoto Experiment Marks the End of an Era
The 10th edition of Kyoto Experiment marked the end of a decade-long labor of love for Yusuke Hashimoto, who stepped down as program director and passed the baton on to three new co-directors. What impact has this performing arts event had at home and abroad? What are some of the milestones in its story so far?
On the Theatre Olympics 2019 at Toga Village, Toyama
This article was originally published in the Japan Times newspaper on August 14 2019. Since the late 1970s, people from all over the world have traveled to the village of Toga in rural Toyama Prefecture to attend Tadashi Suzuki’s renowned acting classes or to see the Suzuki Company of Toga (SCOT) and other invited artists…
Andrew Eglinton 