chelfitsch / Toshiki Okada

Info

The Japanese choreographer and theatre director, Toshiki Okada, has gained much attention in his home country’s arts scene with works intersecting the boundaries of spoken and movement theatre and typically combining extremely colloquial everyday speech with equally everyday movements. His latest piece ›The Sonic Life of a Giant Tortoise‹ once more infiltrates everyday Japanese life this time taking a look inside the living room of a couple in Tokyo who are searching for the reasons behind their lack of happiness. His protagonists’ thoughts on the standards and values of a fulfilled life lead from absorption in the myriad minutiae of everyday life to observations of universal connections. Venturing far beyond a direct theatrical narrative and with his hallmark humour, Okada casts light on the major questions of his generation and society.

Credits

Premiere: 2.02.2011, Kanagawa Arts Theatre (Yokohama, Japan)

Text and direction: Toshiki Okada

Stage design: Torafu Architects Inc.

Light design: Tomomi Ohira

Sound design: Norimasa Ushikawa

Stage manager: Koro Suzuki

Video: Ryohei Tomita

Producer: Akane Nakamura

Production manager: Tamiko Ouki

Performers: Taichi Yamagata, Shoko Matsumura, Riki Takeda, Tomomitsu Adachi, Yukiko Sasaki

Production: chelfitsch, in collaboration with precog. Tokio

Co-production: Kanagawa Arts Theatre, ACM Theatre (Art Tower Mito), Yamaguchi Center for Arts and Media (YCAM)

Supported by: The Japan Foundation, Agency for Cultural Affairs Government of Japan in the financial year 2011

Thanks to: Steep Slope Studio

www.chelfitsch.net