Yoroboshi: The Weakling
Satoko Ichihara
Tokyo
Categories
Yoroboshi: The Weakling
Satoko Ichihara
Tokyo
Categories
A vibrant, queer puppet show inspired by Japanese bunraku theater is how playwright and director Satoko Ichihara reimagines the ancient legend of the ‘Blind Weakling’ (Shuntokumaru) for the present. While in the original version children are abandoned, sick people are discriminated against and everyone is redeemed in the end, Ichihara’s thinking reaches far beyond this tragic narrative and its simple opposition between good and evil. A cast of sex dolls, mannequins, and other creatures embody humans, their fates, desires, and violence. As narrator (gidayu), actress Sachiko Hara guides us through the story. Experimental musician Kakushin Nishihara combines the traditional sound of the satsuma-biwa, noise, and electronic music to create an extraordinary soundtrack for the piece. Together, they drive the story forward, mediating between worlds and bringing the puppets to life.
Introduction on 14.7. at 20:30
Language: German
Audience talk on 15.7. after the performance
Language: German and Japanese
Photo: ©Satoko Ichihara
About the Artist(s)
Satoko Ichihara, born in Osaka and raised in Fukuoka, is a playwright, director, novelist, and Artistic Director of the Kinosaki International Arts Center (KIAC). She has directed the theater company Q since 2011. Her plays are concerned with human behavior, with bodies and the unease that surrounds them. She received the Aichi Arts Foundation Drama Award in 2011. Her adaptation of ‘The Bacchae’ (2019) won the 64th Kishida Kunio Playwriting Prize. In 2021, she co-produced ‘Madama Butterfly’ with the Theater Neumarkt in Zurich.