Dumb Type:Performance OR
Oct. 1-5 Park Tower Hall
Taking up where the legendary pH and S/N left off, their latest work continues to deal with the concept of 'borders'. Video and slide images, performers, sounds and lighting collide and intermingle on a white-washed, circular stage against a 4-metre high white backdrop. OR - the title has multiple meanings, 'operation room', ' zero radius' and even choice as in"0 or 1"in binary language-premiered in France this March. As OR is a multi-media project, the live concert will also be performed in this festival.
L'Aigle à deux tête
(The Double-headed Eagle)
0ct. 3-26 Parco Theater
Directed by Akihiro Miwa
This play by Jean Cocteau about the life and death of Queen Elizabeth of Austria in 19th Century is interpreted by Akihiro Miwa, Japan's transgender superstar. As well as being anaccomplished chanteuse, Miwa has enjoyed a luminous career in Japanese theater, starring in plays such as Black Lizard, Marie Vison by Yukio Mishima and Shuji Terayama, amongst others. Recently Miwa has been appearing as director and lead actress in revivals of those classic plays.
Dumb Type:concert OR
Oct. 8&9 Spiral Hall
The company's first project of its kind, this is a live concert featuring Dumb Type's composers Toru Yamanaka and Ryoji Ikeda. The concert incorporates many of the company's original and characteristic elements of stage design (Toru Koyamada), video imagery (Shiro Takatani) and lighting(Takayuki Fujimoto). Being coordinated and computer-synchronized to live music, this performance remixes the original songs used in Dumb Type productions spanning the thirteen years of its innovative, trailblazing history.
Hanagumi Shibai:Cleopatra
0ct. 10-19 Setagaya Public Theatre
Directed by Yukikazu Kano
Embracing some of the refined elements of Kabuki theatre, this modern neo-Kabuki theater company, now ten years old, attempts to reveal not only the legendary beauty but also some of the less alluring aspects of this legendary Egyptian Queen. The company's mesmerizing mish-mash of colour and camp is amplified by the costumes and stage settings of celebrated doll-maker, jusaburo Tsujimura.
A. G. S:Kame, Moshikuwa...(The Turtles, and so...)
0ct. 14-19 Tokyo Geijutsu Gekijo(Tokyo Metropolitan Art Space) Sho Hall 2
Directed by Ayumu Saito
All the way from the frozen north, the Artists Guild of Sapporo in Hokkaido delve into the everyday lives of ordinary people unveiling the fragile nature of their hope and solidarity. Saito's play is based on the writing of Karinty Frigyes and the company hopes to make a splash by lobbing a pebble into the stagnant waters of Tokyo's theater scene.
HORIPRO:Yubin Haitatsufu no Koi
(The Love of a Postman)
Oct. 15-26 Theatre Tram
Directed by Toru Yoshikawa
Featuring Honami Suzuki, this play is based on the story of Cyrano de Bergerac. It describes the passion and agitation of one whose love remains unreciprocated. It's the creation of HoriPro Inc. , a major international theater promotions outfit behind recent successes like Philippe Decouflet's musical Dora and Ninagawa's acclaimed Shintokumaru which is to tour to London in this autumn.
Gekidan Kaitaisha:Zero Category
Oct. 20-26 Tokyo Geijutsu Gekijo
(Tokyo Metropolitan Art Space) Sho Hall 1
Written and directed by Shinjin Shimizu
Established in l985 and active in the international theater scene of recent years, the Kaitaisha Company premieres its new production for a Tokyo audience. Their unique style of theater emphasizes the body and its relationship with the space surrounding it and consequently uses little dialogue. Nonetheless, its intensity speaks louder than words.
Raionno Atode (After the Lions)
Oct. 17 - Nov. 16 Ginza Saison Theatre
Directed by Masaya Takahashi
This play by Ronald Harrowed, author of The Dresser, depicts the life of immortal, turn-of the-century French actress Sarah Bernhardt. It features Tetsuko Kuroyanagi, who received the Yomiuri Engeki (Theatre) Award for her acting of Master Class last year.
OVERSEAS PRODUCTIONS
Zheijiang Little Flower Shaoxing Opera Troupe:
Kanjo:Assassination of the Emperor.
Sept. 18-21 Tokyo Geijutsu Gekijo
(Tokyo Metropolitan Art Space) Chu Hall
The Little Flower Shaoxing Opera Troupe from Zheijiang, China, with all-female cast, combines folk music with the more refined theatrical elements of Peking 0pera. This polished performance includes male-character actress Mao Weitao, one of their brightest stars. Renowned for their soulful harmonies, melodrama and loves that end in tragedy, this particular play takes as its motif the assassination of Emperor Shi-huang-di, whose most enduring legacy is the Great Wall.
THE CAVE
Sept. 18-21 Bunkamura Theatre Cocoon
Steve Reich works with video artist Beryl Korot in this live sight and sound production. Taking the seemingly eternal conflict between Palestinians and Israelis as its keynote, Mr. Reich questions how people of different races and religious beliefs can live together in love and harmony.
Compagnie Maguy Marin:WATERZOOI and MAY B
Sept. 30 - Oct. 5 Setagaya Public Theatre
Legendary in Japan as well as abroad, Maguy Marin's MAY B is a powerful, grotesquely beautiful spectacle. One of the first French 'nouvelle danse' pieces that made it into Japan in the early 80's, it was conceived as an homage to Samuel Beckett. It's performed in conjunction with much lauded WATERZOOI, Marin's most recent composition.
Peter Brook:Happy Days
Oct. 1-12 Theatre Tram
Directed by Peter Brook, a master of the modern theater, this is the second French production of one of Backett's plays to be featured this year. In the play, a 50-something woman, buried up to her chest in sand, nevertheless maintains a lengthy monologue with her non-responsive husband. She is interpreted by acclaimed French actress Natasha Parry.
