Constellations
Program Information
| Genre / City | Participatory Theatre / Cape Town |
|---|---|
| Dates | 6, 7, and 8 May at 17:30 |
| Venue | In the forest at Nihon-daira |
| Meeting place | At Shizuoka Arts Theatre |
| Duration | about 220 minutes (including transfer) *performance: 120 minutes |
| Language | In Japanese with no subtitles |
| Seat | Non-reserved seating |
| Conceptualised and facilitated by | Brett BAILEY |
| Curated by | Ooka Jun |
| Production | SPAC-Shizuoka Performing Arts Center |
| Cooperation | Third World Bunfight |
| Premiere | First presented in Stellenbosch South Africa on the Spier Wine Estate |
Introduction
South African playwright, theatre director and visual artist Brett BAILEY’s latest play, “Constellations,” will be performed by Japanese actors and musicians at a special open-air venue in a woodland setting near to Shizuoka Performing Arts Park.
There, you will experience a fantastic theatre event including many kinds of artists.
For each performance, audiences will be divided into small groups, who will be invited to explore a woodland setting near Shizuoka Performing Arts Park.
Then several guides who manage the lights in the woodland will welcome the audiences by singing, dancing and telling stories as participants gather in the dimly-lit woods under the stars in the fresh green of spring.
The internationally acclaimed South African playwright, theatre director and visual artist Brett Bailey says the idea for “Constellations” — which was first performed at the Spier Wine Farm in Cape Town in 2021 — came to him during a pandemic lockdown in 2021.
This time, SPAC will collaborate with him to stage the work’s Japan premiere with the playwright and director OOOKA Jun overseeing the project. Featuring a top-notch lineup of great dancers, musicians and poets, this promises to welcome audiences to some very special live performances in the woodlands of Nihondaira.
But beware: In that beautiful setting you may encounter unknown new worlds and hear stories far removed from your conventional daily life. In fact, that special night event may connect to other experiences that will shape something new in your heart, like a constellation in the clear sky above.
Note for watching this play
◎Participants/audiences will be divided into three different groups and each group will visit three different performance sites one after another led by SPAC’s guide. If you participate with your friends or family, we will intentionally put you in separate groups. If there is any problem with that, please tell us in advance.
◎You will not be told which performer will welcome you at the site.
◎The performance at each of the three sites will be about 30 minutes.
Director’s profile
Brett BAILEY
Brett Bailey is a South African playwright, designer, director, installation artist, and the artistic director of the performance company THIRD WORLD BUNFIGHT. His iconoclastic theatrical works, which interrogate the dynamics of the post-colonial world, include the musical dramas BIG DADA, IPI ZOMBI?, iMUMBO JUMBO, ORFEUS and SAMSON; a radical reworking of Verdi’s opera MACBETH; and the performance installations BLOOD DIAMONDS: TERMINAL, EXHIBIT A, EXHIBIT B, and SANCTUARY. Many of his works have played across Europe, Australia and Africa, and in the USA, Latin America and Asia, and have won several awards, including a gold medal for design at the Prague Quadrennial (2007). He has a BA in drama and English from the University of Cape Town, and a post graduate diploma in performance studies from Das Arts (now DAS Theatre), Amsterdam (2004). He directed the opening show at the World Summit on Arts and Culture in Johannesburg (2009), and from 2006-2011 the opening shows at the Harare International Festival of the Arts. From 2008-2011 he was curator of South Africa’s only public arts festival, ‘Infecting the City’, in Cape Town. He was the chairperson of the Curatorial Committee of South Africa’s National Arts Festival from 2016-2020. In 2014 he wrote the International Theatre Institute’s World Theatre Day message for UNESCO. He headed the jury of the Prague Quadrennial (2011); was a juror on the International Theatre Institute’s Music Theatre Now competition (2012/13), and the chairperson of the jury of the same competition in 2016/16; and a juror of the Tokyo Festival’s World Theatre Competition in 2019. He has run extended workshop sessions on his methodology in Ireland, Italy, the USA and Athens, and in 2018 he curated a 2-month component of the MA programme at DAS Theatre, Amsterdam. In 2019 he was made a Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres (Knight in the Order of Arts and Letters) by the French government. http://www.thirdworldbunfight.co.za/
Japanese Curator Profile
OOKA Jun
OOKA Jun is a playwright, theatre director and critic. He was born in Hyogo in 1970, and currently works in SPAC’s literature department. He is also an adviser in the editorial department of the Bukyu publishing company and a part-time lecturer at Shizuoka University.
OOOKA regards himself as a socially-aware entertainer in the spirit of film director KAWASHIMA Yuzo’s “Nihon keicho-ha” (“Japan flippant circle”) and working across a range of performing arts from theatre to puppet theatre, opera, musicals, music concerts and dance.
He adapted and directed the ancient Greek playwright Aristophanes’s “The Birds” in 2015 and, while at SPAC, he wrote “1940 – Richard Strauss’s House” in 2017. Also, he wrote a book titled “Madame Edwarda in the 21st century” (Kobunsha publishing) and translated Bertolt Brecht’s “The Threepenny Opera” (Editorial republica).
Cast / Staff
Conceptualised and facilitated by Brett BAILEY
Curated by Ooka Jun
【Performer】
KUNIHIRO Kazuki ＜5/8 only＞
KUROTANI Miyako ＜5/6,8 only＞
KOGURE Miwazou
SATOMI Nozomi
TSUJI Kosuke
MAKIGAMI Koichi ＜5/6,7 only＞
Micari
MIZUSAWA Nao
MIYAHARA Yukio
YAMASHITA Zan ＜5/7 only＞
WATANABE Genei
◎You will not be told which performer will welcome you at the site.
【Guide】
KATO Yukio
SUGIYAMA Ken
SUZUKI Mariko
TAKEISHI Morimasa
NAGAI Sayako
MAKIYAMA Yudai
MISHIMA Keita
YAMAZAKI Koji
WAKAMIYA Yoichi
＜Staff＞
Stage: SUGIYAMA Yuri, TSUCHIYA Katsunori
Wardrobe: SEI Chigusa
Interpretation: Corey TURPIN
Production: YUKIOKA Jun, SAKANAKA Toshiki, SATO Misaki
Technical director: MURAMATSU Atsushi
Lighting manager: HIGUCHI Masayuki
Sound manager: SAWADA Yukino
Production: SPAC-Shizuoka Performing Arts Center
Cooperation: Third World Bunfight
Premiere: First presented in Stellenbosch South Africa on the Spier Wine Estate
Under the auspices of the Embassy of the Republic of South Africa in Japan
Supported by the Agency for Cultural Affairs Government of Japan
Notice
◎We will take audience members to the performance site by chartered bus. Please come to Shizuoka Arts Theatre by 17:30. If you are late, you won’t be able to see the performance.
◎It’s not suitable for children under 7 years of age.
◎The performance will take place even in drizzle. Please check whether it will take place or not on our Twitter (@_SPAC_) or call SPAC on (054-203-5730) on that day.
◎You can’t use an umbrella at the site, so please take a raincoat instead.
◎Please take a torch or a flashlight.
◎It will cool down as the performance is in a woodland, so please take a jacket or coat with you. To protect against insects and accidental abrasions, we recommend you to wear long sleeves and long trousers for this performance.
◎It may be muddy, so please take trekking boots or rain boots.
◎Please take an insect repellent (if you wish) for this outdoor event.
◎We will provide small cushions as there are no backrests on the seats.
◎Audience members with an inappropriate amount of belongings may be asked to leave items in the on-site cloakroom.
