PROGRAM
Director: Ariane Mnouchkine (2019 Kyoto Prize laureate)
In Harmony with Hélène Cixous
Music: Jean-Jacques Lemêtre
The legendary Théâtre du Soleil’s most awaited visit from France to Japan with its latest piece Ariane Mnouchkine’s humorous declaration of love for Japanese culture
The legendary French theatre company Théâtre du Soleil, led by Kyoto Prize winner Ariane Mnouchkine marking Théâtre du Soleil’s second visit to Japan, and its first in twenty-two years!
Now in its fifty-ninth year, the France’s Théâtre du Soleil is one of the leading theatre companies in the world, having creating numerous internationally acclaimed masterpieces that innovatively explore the possibilities of theatre. Adopting a fundamentally non-hierarchical management style and collective approach to creativity, the company has continued to reinvent the performing arts by drawing on traditional forms of performance from different cultures and eras.
Its body of work reveals the influence of Japanese performing arts traditions like noh, kabuki, and bunraku, which fascinated director Ariane Mnouchkine early in her career. L’île d’Or Kanemu-jima was greatly inspired by and conceived out of the Mnouchkine’s visit to various places in Japan, including Sado Island, and further developed out of research and exchanges during her stay in Japan to receive the 2019 Kyoto Prize, and workshops held with Japanese noh practitioners and theatre professionals during the coronavirus pandemic. Though originally planned for autumn 2021, the performances were canceled due to the pandemic. Two years later, audiences finally have their chance to witness this incredible spectacle. This production, which premiered at the company’s theatre La Cartoucherie in Paris in November 2021 to great acclaim, marks Théâtre du Soleil’s first visit to Japan in twenty-two years.
Profile
Theatre du Soleil
Founded in France in 1964, they now have around 110 members working for the company, from over 25 differents nationalities. Théâtre du Soleil (Theatre of the Sun) is based at La Cartoucherie, a former munitions factory located in a Paris suburb, and known for its uniquely collective approach to creativity. It attracted global attention with 1789 (1970), dealing with the French Revolution and staged in a highly innovative theatrical style. Its wide-ranging repertoire includes classics, masque, and works about contemporary issues like the refugees. It first toured to Japan in 2001, staging Tambours sur la Digue at the New National Theatre, Tokyo, and causing a stir with its bold use of Asian puppetry, especially Japanese bunraku.
Ariane Mnouchkine
Born in Paris in 1939 as the daughter of a film producer father, Ariane Mnouchkine enjoyed a cultural upbringing. In 1959, while a student at the Sorbonne, she founded the theatre troupe Association Théâtrale des Étudiants de Paris (Parisian Students’ Theatrical Association), which later developed into Théâtre du Soleil in 1964. The previous year, she visited Japan and the experience of her travel had a major influence on her subsequent theatre career. Based at La Cartoucherie in a Parisian suburb, Théâtre du Soleil is known for its uniquely collective approach to creativity. Under the powerful leadership of Mnouchkine, it has staged many notable productions of classics and contemporary theatre. As a film director, her work includes 1789 and Molière, and she also actively engages in making film adaptations of the company’s stage productions. She has taken her École Nomade itinerant theatre school around the world, helping to nurture young theatrical talent. In 2019, she was awarded the 35th Kyoto Prize in Arts and Philosophy in recognition of her long career and achievements.
Summary
Cornelia, an elderly woman lying on a sick bed, is in a dream on a fictional island called “Kanemu-Jima,” which provokes images of Japan but is somewhat odd. There, the mayor’s party aims to revitalize the town with an international theater festival, while forces plotting a casino resort construction are at odds. On the island of Cornelia’s dreamy fantasy, the situation takes an unexpected twist as the noisy media, black-hearted lawyers, and theater groups of various nationalities and ethnicities join the pandemonium……
Schedule
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Friday, Oct. 20 | Saturday, Oct. 21 | Sunday, Oct. 22 | Monday, Oct. 23 | Tuesday, Oct. 24 | |
| 14:00 | ⚫️ | ⚫️ | no performance | |||
| 18:00 | ⚫️ | ⚫️ |
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Wednesday, Oct. 25 | Thursday, Oct. 26 | ||
| 14:00 | ⚫️ | ⚫️ | ||
| 18:00 |
*We have scheduled a post-show talk. We will announce the details on Tokyo Metropolitan Theatre website as soon as they are decided.
Organizer
Special Sponsorship by CHANEL G.K.
Sponsored by LVMH and supported by Institut français in Paris
Sponsored by Inamori Foundation, The Obayashi Foundation, Japanese Friends of the Centre Pompidou, POLA Inc. Cooperated by the Embassy of France in Japan/ Institut français du Japon
Presented by Tokyo Festival Executive Committee [Tokyo Metropolitan Foundation for History and Culture (Tokyo Metropolitan Theatre, Arts Council Tokyo), Tokyo Metropolitan Government], Nikkei Inc.
Tokyo Festival Sponsored by Asahi Group Japan, Ltd.
Inquires
Tokyo Metropolitan Theatre Box Office
TEL: +81(0)570-010-296 (10:00 a.m. – 7:00 p.m. except when theatre is closed)
www.geigeki.jp
Accessibility
- French (Includes some scenes where multiple languages are used.), Japanese subtitles