SEAMI & Arts Management Center Fukuoka
Thu–Fri 6–7 October 2022, 19.00
Bakery, the Grotowski Institute
Tickets: 44/55 PLN
Performance without words
Water Station was first performed in 1981 by the Tenkei Gekijō Theatrical Company. It was the first in a series of plays performed in total silence. Heaps of junk from the city’s household waste surround a broken water faucet, which is constantly leaking water. People are going to and fro with their anxiety, pain, loneliness and death. The oral language is abandoned but the scream of essential human life is reverberating across the stage. The audience is captivated by an instinctual language felt by all five senses, not one based on objective concepts.
Ōta Shōgo was born in 1939 in Jinan, China, and lived in Beijing until Japan's defeat in World War II brought its occupation of China to an end. Eventually Ōta matriculated to the political science department of Gakushūin University in Tokyo and, during the turbulent 1960s when the consuming political debate was on the renewal of the Japan-U.S. Security Treaty, he was active in both protest and theatrics. He left the university in 1962 without receiving a diploma. It was through his collaboration with its members that he found his theatre of divestiture. In 1977 he produced the nō-inspired Tale of Komachi Told by the Wind (Komachi fūden), which made startling use of silence and stillness, winning the prestigious Kishida Drama Prize for it. In 1981 he produced The Water Station (Mizu no eki), hisseminal play that epitomized divestiture, and for their performance his company received the Kinokuniya Theatre Award in the group category. Ōta led the Tenkei Theatre on international tours of The Tale of Komachi Told by the Wind and The Water Station to many venues in Europe, Northern America, Australia, and Korea. He disbanded the company in 1988 due to financial reasons, a few years after they relocated to the T2 Studio in western Tokyo.
SEAMI is a creative collective established by Kim Seil (director and actor), who is from Busan, Korea. The group pursues the aesthetics of the Eastern Theatre Arts by giving theatre workshops and performances. Their aim is to spread Asian aesthetics acorss the world and create strong connections between the theatre networks in Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong and other Asian countries.
Kim Seil is President of SEAMI. Born in Busan, Korea. While he attended Kyungsung University, majoring in Theatre Arts, he took part in the establishment of the Dongnyeuk Busan Theatre Factory in 1998. He came to Japan as an invited overseas trainee artist of Japan’s Agency for Cultural Affairs. He started working in several theatre projects in Tokyo. He also appeared on NHK’s TV dramas (Japan Broadcasting Corporation). He works both as an actor and director of co-production performance pieces with representatives of several Asian countries. In his creation he pursues the spirit of Asian theatre arts.
Cast
Ōta Shōgo
Nitano Asami
Kim Seil
Hwang Kyeong
Cho Se hyun
Itoyama Kazunori
Nishihara Nao
Fukuchi Ryo, Hamayoshi Seitarō, Hirana Yuika, Jinnai Koshirō, Marubauashi Kotarō, Matsunaga Mayumi, Miyaki Hideaki, Ōe Ayano, Sakasegawa Mayo, Shintō Hiroyuki, Takenouchi Mana, Tomita Ayako, Tozawa Shinji, Tsubouchi Yōko, Yamamoto Yuki , Yamashita Akira, Yoshida Chie
150 min
Water Station is performed in Poland thanks to the financial support of:
