Chiten Theatre Company
Tues.–Wed. 4–5 October 2022, 19.00
On 4th September the show will be followed by a discussion with the director hosted by Nikodem Karolak, the director of InlanDimensions International Arts Festival
Jan Kochanowski Powszechny Theatre in Radom
Details and tickets available at the event:
https://www.facebook.com/events/569114601573783/569114611573782/
and on our website:
https://teatr.radom.pl/kalendarium/teraz-gramy/gracz-japonia.html
Languages: Japanese with Polish captions
It all happens at the fictional city of Germany, Roulettenburg. There are Russian "general" and his tutor Alexei, the general's mistress Mademoiselle Blanche, the French Duke de Grieux, the English businessman Mr. Astley, and the general's daughter-in-law Polina whom Alexei is helplessly in love with. Upper class people hang out in the gambling town, though the general's fortune has long run out, and he spends his days hoping that "grandmother" will die in his hometown of Russia and his inheritance will solve all problems. However, the "grandmother" who was thought to be dying appears there, and she exhausts all the property with roulette games in front of the party. Finding out that Polina is in danger due to her debt, Alexei goes to a casino to gamble as if possessed and wins a big victory. When he comes back to Polina, she refuses to receive the money. Disappointed Alexei is seduced by Mademoiselle Blanche to Paris. When his wealth is depleted due to the regal life, Alexei leaves Blanche and returns to the roulette wheel.
Chiten Theatre Company
Chiten, meaning “locus” or “point”, is a theatre company led by director Motoi Miura. It specialises in performances created out of collages using fragments of existing texts. It employs an original linguistic style, deliberately delaying the cadence and rhythm of language to expose the raw sound of the words liberated from their meanings. This technique has frequently been recognized for its musical qualities. Rather than maintaining a single systematic methodology, Chiten explores a wide variety of approaches for the texts it adapts. Its major work includes a series of staging of Chekhov plays, Brechtʼs Fatzer, and Jelinekʼs Kein Licht. Originally based in Tokyo, Chiten moved to Kyoto in 2005. In 2013 it renovated a derelict former music venue to open an atelier space: UNDER-THROW. The name is derived from a Japanese - English word literally meaning “under pitching” and which usually refers to a submarine pitch in baseball. At the space Chiten performs a repertoire of previous productions and new works. In 2011, it performed The Cherry Orchard and Uncle Vanya at the Meyerhold Centre in Moscow. It was invited to perform Coriolanus at Shakespeareʼs Globe theatre in London as part of the World Shakespeare Festival in 2012. Alongside its acclaimed overseas tours, it regularly receives commissions for co-productions with public theatres and festivals in Japan. The company currently has six permanent performers. All the members of the company appear in every production, whether that is acting over thirty roles in Shakespeare plays or performing texts that are fundamentally non-dramatic, such as the Constitution of Japan. The company aspires to arrive at new frontiers in technique and directing. Departing fully from realism, Chiten rehearsals are improvisational in nature in order to create complex and difficult theatre through its unique critical interpretations.
Miura Motoi
Motoi Miura is a representative, and the director, of Chiten. From 1999 he studied in Paris for two years on a government scholarship, learning directing, arts management and artistic directorship under Jacques Blanc. Upon his return to Japan in 2001, Miura got up and running with Chiten, which moved from Tokyo to Kyoto in 2005. Representative works include:Three Sisters A. Chekhov; Kein Licht (No light) E. Jelinek; Sports Play E. Jelinek. He has been the recipient of many awards, including: The Kyoto City Award for New Artists in 2011; The Yomiuri Theater Award Special Jury Prize in 2017. His publications include: Omoshirokereba OK ka? Gendai Engekikō (Is just being interesting OK?: A meditation on contemporary theater, Goryu Books, 2010) , and Yappari Higeki Datta. "Wakaranai" Engeki e no Omāju (Oh, it was a tragedy: an homage to confusing theater, Iwanami Shoten, 2019). In August 2022 he challenged himself with a performative reading adaptation of The Water Hen by Stanislaw Ignacy Witkiewicz.
Cast & Credits
Miura Motoi
Dostoevsky Fyodor
Kameyama Ikuo
Kukangendai (na żywo): Noguchi Junya, Koyano Keisuke, Yamada Hideaki
Tanaka Yūki, Aioi Midori, Kobayashi Yōhei, Abe Satoko, Ishida Dai, Ogawara Kōji, Kubota Shie
Sugiyama Itaru
Huchard Colette
Fujiwara Yasuhiro
Nishikawa Fumiaki
Saitō Ryōsuke
Tajima Yuna
75 min
