Theatre

Mishima - A Double Bill Theatre Production: until 4th July

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Mishima: A Double Bill at Oval House Theatre by Stonecrabs.

This a theatre production of Hanjo and Hell Screen on 7.45pm from 16th June to 4th July 2009.

'Never before staged in the United Kingdom in English, Yukio Mishima’s lyrically imaginative modern adaptations of classical Noh drama and Kabuki merge traditional forms of Japanese theatre with 21st century psychology. Past and present, reality and illusion, life and death, love, greed, anger collide in a world where characters are forced to find the poetic within the mundane and love in the most unlikely places.

A Yukio Mishima double bill:
The turbulent life of Yukio Mishima, one of the greatest exponents of Japanese literature, led him to commit harakiri at the age of forty-five. The haunting beauty of his modern classics, Hanjo and Hell Screen, promise an evening of pure and unforgettable delight at the theatre.

Hanjo
Translated by Donald Keene
Directed by Franko Figueiredo
In this bittersweet story of unrequited love, the beautiful Hanako waits at a train station with an opened fan in her arms, peering into the face of every man who alights, only to return each time disappointed to her waiting-room bench...

Hell Screen
Yukio Mishima’s adaptation of Akutagawa’s short story
Directed by Kwong Loke
When Yoshihide is commissioned to paint Hell, he sets about having his sadistic vision recreated before him so that he may paint it with measured strokes... Revealed in a cup of sake with a crimson maple leaf floating on it, his conceit comes with a hellish twist - causing a beautiful maiden to be roasted alive in the inferno of a falling carriage. Such is the price of true art.'

The Oval House Theatre is at 52-54 Kennington Oval, London SE11 5SW.

For more information
Tel: 020 86946472
Email: info@stonecrabs.co.uk

Posted by Vanessa on 2009年6月26日 10:49 |

Shochiku Grand Kabuki - Twelfth Night after William Shakespeare: 24th - 28th March 2009

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'Marrying traditional Japanese theatre, Kabuki, with Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, celebrated Japanese director, Yukio Ninagawa creates a visionary new production.

Working for the first time with two of Kabuki’s greatest performers, Onoe Kikugoro VII and his son Onoe Kikunosuke V, Ninagawa relocates Shakespeare’s well-loved comedy to a fantastical and colourful world set in Japan’s historical past.

Through stylised gestures, speech and music; executed with precision timing, Kabuki brings a new energy to Shakespeare’s comedic moments. Ninagawa’s striking staging reflects a fanciful but nonetheless quintessential Japanese world producing a Twelfth Night of timeless beauty.'

Nightly at 7pm, the performances will be in Japanese with English surtitles.

On Saturday 28th March join the Shochiku Grand Kabuki Pre-Show Talk. Producer Thelma Holt discusses bringing Grand Kabuki to the Barbican. Free to same day ticket holders.

Posted by Vanessa on 2009年3月 9日 13:15 | | Comments (0)

Madame De Sade by Yukio Mishima: 13th March – 23rd May 2009

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Book tickets now for the Madame De Sade by Yukio Mishima (translated by Donald Keene), continuing the Donmar Warehouse's year-long residency at the Wyndham's Theatre. Featuring the ever-popular Judi Dench, the play is sure to be a big hit.

'Against her mother’s wishes, Renee remains vehemently devoted to her husband, the Marquis de Sade, the notorious aristocrat imprisoned in the Bastille for his lurid escapades and licentious behaviour.

Set in Paris, as it hurtles towards a violent revolution, Mishima’s poetic masterpiece brings to life the fascinating story of the Marquis de Sade told through the eyes of six remarkable women.'

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Information from www.donmarwarehouse.com

Playing from 13th March to 23th May 2009, the evening shows start at 7.30pm, with Wednesday and Saturday matinees at 2.30pm, and a Sunday matinee at 3pm.

Tickets are £10, £25, or £32.50. To book call 0844 482 5120 or visit www.donmarwestend.com.

Posted by Vanessa on 2009年2月13日 11:58 | | Comments (0)

A Midsummer Night's Dream in Samurai Japan: Southwark Playhouse: until 28th Feb 09

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Playing now, A Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare is on at Southwark Playhouse until February 28th 2009, nightly at 7.30pm.

'Southwark Playhouse re-imagines Shakespeare’s most magical play in Samurai Japan, bringing the mysticism of the East to the atmospheric cellars beneath London Bridge Station.

Inspired by the delights of Japanese Kabuki dance, the grace of Noh theatre and the comedy of knockabout Kyogen clowns this Midsummer Night’s Dream will create a world where the charmed and the charming co-exist.'

Info from Southwark Playhouse's website, visit for more about the play, and the post-show talk on Thursday, 19th February 2008.

Posted by Vanessa on 2009年2月11日 09:44 | | Comments (0)

Shun-kin at the Barbican: until 21st Feb 09

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Now on at the Barbican, Shun-kin is a powerful play produced jointly by Complicite and Simon McBurney.

'Inspired by the work of one of the most important Japanese writers of the twentieth century, Jun'ichiro Tanizaki , Shun-kin tells the tale of devotion, passion and power, where beauty is unforgiving and love is blinding.

Moving between the neon glow of Japan and the vanished world of Meiji, Shun-kin discovers the moments of light in a world of darkness.

Emerging from traditional Japanese culture, this powerful performance shows us just how close beauty and violence can really be.'

-info from the Barbican website

Performances start at 7.45pm, except Saturday the 14th and 21st of February, when there is a show at 2.30pm.

Practise your Japanese listening skills - the play is in Japanese with English surtitles!

Posted by Vanessa on 2009年2月 9日 15:59 | | Comments (0)