Reading of Tokyo Notes
There will be a rehearsed reading of Tokyo Notes, play written by Oriza Hirata. This play reading will be followed by a chance to hear the playwright talk about his work in conversation with James Tyson.
Date & Time
Sat 9 February 2008
2:30pm
Venue
The Japan Foundation London
10-12 Russell Square
London WC1B 5EH
This event is free but booking is essential.
To reserve a seat, please contact
“the effect of the Japanese playwright Oriza Hirata’s dialogue can be as transfixing as a glimpse of human tissue under a microscope”
The New York Times
“Hirata avoids all overtly theatrical devices, concentrating on creating patterns of speech and movement that become increasingly absorbing”
The Irish Times
In the near future a Tokyo museum hosts an exhibition of masterpieces evacuated from the ravages of a war in Europe. A group of siblings, now living apart, meet at the museum for a family gathering. Here they endlessly continue fragmented conversations as each tries to talk about different topics such as work, children and the question of who will look after their ageing parents.
Inspired by Yasujiro Ozu “Tokyo Story”, this internationally acclaimed work scrupulously portrays the gradual dissolution of family and human relations in ordinary modern society against the backdrop of war. Premiered in 1994, “Tokyo Notes” has been translated into 9 languages and staged in 15 countries including France and South Korea. Oriza Hirata, one of Japan’s most influential and intellectual dramatists and playwrights who creates strongly individualised characters with extraordinary economy, won the prestigious Kishida Kunio Drama Award with this work.
This is a unique opportunity to experience, in English, one of the most significant plays ever to come out of modern Japan.
As part of “On the Edge”, an Arts Council of Wales supported initiative, the reading of Tokyo Notes will also visit the following venues in Wales:
Fri 8 February
Wed 13 February
Thurs 14 February
Fri 15 February Chapter Arts Centre, Cardiff
Dylan Thomas Centre, Swansea
Riverfront, Newport
Parc & Dare Theatre, Treorchy