Toshiki Okada is an innovator of form and a key figure in Japanese contemporary theatre. He has repeatedly participated in the Kunstenfestivaldesarts with work that is recognisable by its idiosyncratic vernacular language and astonishing imagery. Okada poses hard-hitting questions about the complexity of the ultramodern post- Fukushima Japanese society. At the same time, his art is universal and timeless. In 2016, he takes part in the festival with the European premiere of Time’s Journey Through a Room. In an ominous huis clos, the protagonists are attempting to cope with the omnipresent ghosts of the past and the latent threat of the present. In the background we hear a multi-layered acoustic landscape of field recordings. Okada creates – as only he can – an enchanting new world where sound, body, and language merge with one another. What remains is essential human theatre and the hope of a better future.
1h 15min
JP > NL / FR
Playwright & director Toshiki Okada
Sound & set design Tsuyoshi Hisakado
Cast Izumi Aoyagi, Mari Ando, Yo Yoshida
Stage director Koro Suzuki
Sound director Norimasa Ushikawa
Lighting director Tomomi Ohira (ASG)
Costumes Kyoko Fujitani (FAIFAI)
English translation Aya Ogawa
Assistant director Yuto Yanagi
Photography Masumi Kawamura
Production management Tamiko Ouki, Nana Koetting, Mai Hyodo (precog)
Presentation Kunstenfestivaldesarts, Beursschouwburg
Production chelfitsch (Tokyo)
Associated production precog (Tokyo)
Co-production Kyoto Experiment/ROHM Theatre Kyoto, Kunstenfestivaldesarts, Festival d’Automne à Paris, Künstlerhaus Mousonturm (Frankfurt), La Bâtie – Festival de Genève, SPRING Performing Arts Festival (Utrecht)
In co-operation with Nishi-Sugamo Arts Factory, Suitengu Pit, Kyoto Art Center Artist in Studio Program
Subtitling with the support of ONDA
Toshiki Okada (b. 1973) is a Japanese playwright, director and founder of the theatre company chelfitsch. Since 1997 he has written and directed all of the company’s productions, practising a distinctive methodology for creating plays, and has become known for his use of hyper-colloquial Japanese and unique choreography. In 2005, Okada’s play Five Days in March won the prestigious 49th Kishida Kunio Drama Award. Okada participated in the Toyota Choreography Award 2005 with Air Conditioner (Cooler) (2005), garnering much attention. In February 2007, his book consisting of two novellas, Watashitachi ni Yurusareta Tokubetsu na Jikan no Owari (The End of the Special Time We Were Allowed), was published and was awarded the 2008 Kenzaburo Oe Prize. In 2013, his first book on theatre studies was published by Kawade Shobo Shinsha (Tokyo). Toshiki Okada’s work has featured at the Kunstenfestivaldesarts several times since 2007, including Five Days in March in 2007 and the world premiere of Ground and Floor in 2013.
