PROGRAM
Tokyo Metropolitan Theatre Autumn Selection
chelfitsch & Dai Fujikura with Ensemble Nomad
“Metamorphosis of a Living Room”
- Audio guide (limited time and reservation required)
- Childcare services
- English Surtitles
- Wheelchair accessible
- Writing board support
Graphic Design: Mariko Okazaki (REFLECTA, Inc.)
Playwright / Director: Toshiki Okada
Composer: Dai Fujikura
Cast: Izumi Aoyagi, Chieko Asakura, Mariko Kawasaki, Ayana Shiibashi, Makoto Yazawa, Manami Watanabe
Music: Ensemble Nomad
A music theater by Toshiki Okada and Dai Fujikura's first collaboration
This work, which was commissioned by the Wiener Festwochen and had its world premiere in May last year, will finally have its Japan premiere in Tokyo! The Japanese premiere in Tokyo will be performed by Ensemble Nomad, a regular performer at the Tokyo Metropolitan Theatre's “Born Creative” Festival and highly trusted by Fujikura.
Actors and musicians share the stage space, and by juxtaposing theatrical and musical performances on stage, the work aims to create a fictional space where the two blend together.
The story is about a family who is suddenly about to be evicted from their home due to the unilateral termination of their rental contract. However, as a powerful force beyond human understanding begins to emerge, the problem itself disappears from the stage - an entity that overwhelms the human world takes over the performance, and a completely new world appears onstage.
The actors perform a choreography that is based on criteria separate from the narrative, and it gradually transforms. The musicians also transform the music using a variety of techniques written into the score. When the words of the six actors and the performance of the seven-person ensemble resonate with each other and the story and sound blend together, what kind of changes will occur as the 13 sounds interact with each other?
Stay tuned for a music theater, a new collaboration!
After-talk information
After-talk Date and time: September 22nd (Sunday, National Holiday)
Speakers (tentative): Toshiki Okada x Rinko Kawauchi (photographer)
Target: Those who have tickets for the performance *Please note that we do not accept reservations for the after-talk alone.
Participation fee: Free
Rinko Kawauchi (Photographer)
Born in Shiga Prefecture in 1972. In 2002, she won the 27th Kimura Ihei Photography Award for her works Utatane and Fireworks. In 2023, she received the Outstanding Contribution to Photography (Special Achievement Award) at the Sony World Photography Awards. She has held numerous exhibitions both in Japan and abroad. Her major works include Illuminance (2011), Heaven and Earth (2013), and Halo (2017). Her upcoming photo books include Yamanami and Here Now (co-authored with Tanikawa Shuntaro). In 2022-2023, she held the solo exhibition “Rinko Kawauchi: M/E On a Sphere: Infinite Chain” at the Tokyo Opera City Art Gallery and the Shiga Prefectural Museum of Art.
Profile
chelfitsch
Founded in 1997 as a theater company with all works written and directed by Toshiki Okada, the company made its first foray overseas in 2007 with the performance of Five Days in March at the Kunsten Festival des Arts (Brussels, Belgium). Since then, the company has continued to perform in over 90 cities across Asia, Europe, North America, and South America. Many of its works have been commissioned by the world's leading festivals and theaters, such as the Festival d'Automne Paris (France) and the Vienna Festwochen (Austria), as well as international co-productions.
In recent years, together with stage and video artist Shinpei Yamada, they have launched an experiment in which images projected on a screen transform an exhibition space into a performance space by inducing effects on people's senses, called "Video Theater." In 2018, they presented the theatrical performance/exhibition "Nagisa, Eyelids, Curtains: chelfitsch's Video Theater" (Contemporary Art Museum, Kumamoto).
Starting in 2021, they will launch a "Theater Project with Non-Native Japanese Speakers", holding workshops for actors whose native language is not Japanese, and in 2023 they will present the play "The Window of the Spaceship In-Between".
chelfitsch
Toshiki Okada
He is a playwright, novelist, and founder of the chelfitsch. His unique relationship between words and the body in his technique has garnered attention, and in 2005 he won the 49th Kishida Kunio Drama Award for "Five Days in March." In July of the same year, he participated in the final selection of the "TOYOTA CHOREOGRAPHY AWARD 2005 - Discovering the next generation of choreographers" with "Air Conditioner." In 2013, he published a collection of his theatrical essays, "Reverse: A Theory of Theatre for Heterogeneity" (Kawade Shobo Shinsha).
Since 2016, he has also been continuously writing and directing repertory works for public theaters in Germany. His works “The Vacuum Cleaner” (Munich Kammerspiele) in 2020 and “Donuts” (Thalia Theater, Hamburg) in 2022 were selected for the Berlinale Theater Festival (one of the “10 noteworthy works of the year” in the German-speaking world).
He won the Special Jury Award at the 27th Yomiuri Theater Awards for Pratthana: A Portrait of Possession, a stage adaptation of a contemporary Thai novel with Thai actors. He won the 72nd Yomiuri Literature Prize for Drama and Scenario and the 25th Tsuruya Nanboku Prize for Regretful Ghosts and Monsters: Sawanami/Tsuruga (KAAT Kanagawa Arts Theatre), which uses the narrative structure of Noh. In 2021, he directed the opera Yuzuru (Yuzuru) (a national co-production of an opera).
As a novelist, she published "The End of the Special Time We Were Allowed to Live" (Shinchosha) in 2007. She won the 2nd Oe Kenzaburo Prize. In 2022, she won the 35th Mishima Yukio Prize and the 64th Kumamoto Nichinichi Literature Prize for "Broccoli Revolution" (Shinchosha).
Dai Fujikura
Born in Osaka Prefecture. At the age of 15, he went to England alone and studied under J. Benjamin and others. He has won numerous composition awards and has been commissioned internationally. His operas are also highly regarded internationally, and in 2015, he had the world premiere of Solaris, co-commissioned by the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, the Théâtre de Lausanne, and the Théâtre de Lille. In 2020, his third opera, The Dream of Armageddon, had its world premiere at the New National Theatre. Since 2017, he has served as the artistic director of the “Born Creative” Festival held at the Tokyo Metropolitan Theatre . In 2023, he received the Otaka Prize for the fourth time. In recent years, his activities have been diverse, including the presentation of works for remote performances and requests to compose for television programs. His recordings are published by Sony Music Japan International and Minabel Records, and his sheet music is published by Ricordi Berlin.
Ensemble Nomad
The group was formed in 1997 at the invitation of guitarist Norio Sato. As the name "NOMAD" (nomadic, drifting) suggests, the group freely covers a wide range of repertoire that transcends time and genre, and has attracted attention from both within Japan and abroad as an ensemble that expresses its own unique world through programs based on innovative ideas and themes. The group has received the Suntory Music Foundation's 2nd Keizo Saji Award and the 3rd Vienna Philharmonic & Suntory Music Revival Memorial Award. Starting with the Gaudeamus Music Week in the Netherlands in 2000, the group has been invited to contemporary music festivals around the world, including in South America, Europe, Korea, and China. In recent years, the group has also been actively involved in outreach activities, visiting various places to give concerts and workshops.
So far, he has released 20 CDs, including collections of works by Jo Kondo, Dai Fujikura, E. Vasquez, and others, as well as the original album "Meguru." The "Contemporary Chinese Composers" series, released in 2015, was selected as a special selection by Record Geijutsu magazine and as a recommended album for "for your collection" by the Asahi Shimbun.
Ensemble Nomad
Schedule
Friday, Sep. 20, 7:00 p.m.
Saturday, Sep. 21, 2:00 p.m.
Sunday, Sep 22, 2:00 p.m.
Monday, Sep. 23, 2:00 p.m.
Tuesday, Sep. 24 (No performance)
Wednesday, Sep. 25 7:00 p.m.
Thursday, Sep, 26, 2:00 p.m. ◎
Friday, Sep. 27, 7:00 p.m.
Saturday, Sep. 28, 1:00 p.m.z /7:00 p.m.
Sunday, Sep 29. 2:00 p.m.
◎: Audio guides are available for customers who are blind or have low vision (reservations required, Japanese only)
Japanese and English open subtitles (subtitles are displayed on stage at all performances)
*There will be an after-talk session after the show on the following dates (only available to those with tickets on the day)
September 22nd (Sunday, National Holiday) Toshiki Okada x Rinko Kawauchi (Photographer)
Duration: Approximately 80 minutes
Reception opens 60 minutes before the start of the show. Doors open 30 minutes before the start of the show.
Accessibility
For more information, please seeAccessibility
- Audio guide in Japanese for customers who are blind or have low vision(limited dates and times, reservation required, Japanese only)For details,click here
- Japanese and English open subtitles (all dates)
- 10% discount for people with disabilities off the regular price on all dates, wheelchair space, hearing loop (magnetic loop) operation, childcare service (for details, please see Tokyo Metropolitan Theatre Support Information)
- Writing board available
- Childcare service (temporary childcare is available within the theater. Fees apply. Limited capacity) Reservations and inquiries: Mirakus Corporation Mirakus Sitter 0120-415-306 (Weekdays 9 a.m- 5 p.m.(JST))
- Childcare workshop: Tokyo Festival 2024“Children’s Play Theater”
(For children aged 4 to elementary school age / Paid, limited capacity / Childcare to support children’s art experiences)
Friday, Sep. 20 – Saturday, Sep. 28 *Scheduled according to each performance time
To all visitors
- Please refrain from visiting if you have a fever or are feeling unwell.
- Wearing a mask is at the discretion of the individual. Please wear one when necessary, such as when the venue is crowded.
- We recommend that you practice proper cough etiquette and wash your hands.
Cast & Staff
Playwright / Director: Toshiki Okada
Composer: Dai Fujikura
Cast: Izumi Aoyagi, Chieko Asakura, Mariko Kawasaki, Ayana Shiibashi, Makoto Yazawa, Manami Watanabe
Music: Ensemble Nomad
Sound: Aki Shiraishi
Sound Supervisor: Koichi Ishimaru (Tokyo Metropolitan Theatre)
Lighting: Masayoshi Takada (RYU)
Costume: Kyoko Fujitani(FAIFAI)
Scenography: dot architects
Dramaturg: Masahiko Yokobori
Technical Director: Marie Moriyama
Stage Manager: Chikage Yuyama
Technical Advisor: Daijiro Kawakami (Scale Laboratory)
English translation: Aya Ogawa
Graphic Design: REFLECTA, Inc. (Mariko Okazaki + Misato Taoka)
Producers: Megumi Mizuno (precog), Tamiko Ouki (precog)
Production Manager: Yuko Takeda
Assistant Production Manager: Nanami Endo
World premiere:
Klangforum Wien [Music], Wataru Omura [Cast], Makiko Yamaguchi [Creative Advisor], Andreas Regelsberger [German Translation], Asami Hori [Tour Manager], Minano Hirano [Assistant Production Manager]
Creation Workshop:
Ensemble Nomad [Music], Tatsuya Tsujimoto [Cover], Ryusei Nagami [Nagie] [Sound Design]
Commissioned by: Wiener Festwochen
Produced by: Wiener Festwochen, chelfitsch
Co-produced by: KunstFestSpiele Herrenhausen, Holland Festival, Aichi Prefectural Arts Theater, The Japan Foundation
Planning and production: precog co.,LTD.
Cooperated by: KAJIMOTO, Nakagoo, Steep Slope Studio, YAMABUKI FACTORY, d&b audiotechnik GmbH & Co. KG.
With the assistance of The Saison Foundation
Organizer: Tokyo Festival Executive Committee [Tokyo Metropolitan Foundation for History and Culture (Tokyo Metropolitan Theatre, Arts Council Tokyo), Tokyo Metropolitan Government]
Support: Agency for Cultural Affairs, Government of Japan, Japan Arts Council
Sponsor: Asahi Group Japan, Ltd.
Inquiry
Tokyo Metropolitan Theatre Box Office
TEL: TEL: 0570-010-296 (10:00-19:00 except on closed days)