Time’s Journey Through a Room

Fukushima, 2011. An earthquake of potent magnitude triggers a tsunami that causes an explosion at a nuclear power plant. Terror and confusion. A leading figure of new Japanese theatre first introduced to FTA audiences in 2011, Toshiki Okada contemplates at ground level the intimate effects of the catastrophe. Crystallizing his pain, he forges a fragile theatre of interiority, of infinite melancholy.

Inviting us to first close our eyes, Okada proposes as though in a dream different time structures, conversations between the dead and the living, the intimate link between private tragedy and national disaster. A strange, enclosed love triangle emerges of a man haunted by two women. One is a ghost, the other incarnates a possible future. The characters move about discreetly in this portrait of shattered Japanese youth. Their tremors, convulsions and palpitations are magnified by the subtle, refined décor and soundscape. The poignant trio of actors raise tenuous hopes for a less desolate future. Tomorrow is another day.

Produced by chelfitsch
Written and directed by Toshiki Okada
Sound and Set Design Tsuyoshi Hisakado
Performed by Izumi Aoyagi + Mari Ando + Yo Yoshida
Technical Director Koro Suzuki
Sound Director Norimasa Ushikawa
Lighting Director Tomomi Ohira (ASG)
Stage Manager Chikage Yuyama
Sound Operator Ken Takashio
Costume Kyoko Fujitani (FAIFAI)
English Translation Aya Ogawa
Assistant Director Yuto Yanagi

Associated production precog co.+LTD.
Executive Producer Akane Nakamura (precog)
Chief Producer Tamiko Ouki
Chief Administrator Mihoka Kawamura
Production Manager Mai Hyodo
Production Assistant Megumi Mizuno
Administration Assistants Yukari Okamoto + Takafumi Sakiyama

Co-produced by Kyoto Experiment + ROHM Theatre Kyoto + Kunstenfestivaldesarts + Festival d’Automne à Paris + Künstlerhaus Mousonturm Frankfurt + FFT Düsseldorf + La Bâtie ‒ Festival de Genève + HAU Hebbel am Ufer + SPRING Performing Arts Festival Utrecht In Co-operation with Nishi-Sugamo Arts Factory + Suitengu Pit Kyoto Art Center Artist in Studio Program
Supported by Japan Foundation

Written by Diane Jean
Translated by Neil Kroetsch

Premiered at Kyoto Experiment, on March 17, 2016