NEXT STAGE
The opening program of THEATRE E9 KYOTO / The collaboration series vol.6 of Kanazawa Citizen’s Art Center
Satoshi Ago
-Musical Play- “Palace of the Senses”
About 800 years ago, there was a lower-class noble named Yasunobu Miyoshi who would later become the first head of the board of inquiry (chief justice) of the Kamakura Shogunate. This man is one of Ago’s ancestors. As Yasunobu’s aunt was a wet nurse (known as a Dakimenoto) for the shogun Minamoto No Yoritomo, Yasunobu had a deep connection with Yoritomo from childhood to the end of his life. There also a man named Kanezane Kujo who overcame the turbulent times to earn the title of Kanpaku (chief advisor to the emperor) by stirring up trouble to gain credit for the solution from Yoritomo.
The Kujo family’s residence seems to have been in what is now Higashikujo Minamisannocho in Minami Ward, Kyoto, and by coincidence the first performance of Palace of the Senses was held at studio seedbox, which is in the same district.
This studio was the first location for THEATRE E9 KYOTO, which was opened before the theatre that we would later build in the Higashi Kujo area.
To create this work I visited Higashi Kujo a number of times over the last year or so and held a ceremony to call up this ancestral spirit of the theatre to the location, weaving it together with Yasunobu’s image.
Running alongside this story from the end of the Heian Period, I have also depicted the story of my own childhood spent in Hong Kong during the bubble economy in Japan which coincided with the demise of the Emperor Showa, when the era name then changed to Heisei.
This piece is now being performed in 2019 when the era has just changed again from Heisei to Reiwa. This is also a common thread with the time when the narrative is set, when the name of the era changed from Genyraku at the end of the Heian Period to Bunji at the start of the Kamakura Period. Against the backdrop of these large narratives, this work is an accumulation of small expressions across the body.
Satoshi Ago
The attention of the audience is concentrated on sensations of the skin. Through the sense of touch we recognize ourselves, atone for our sins and confirm that we are alive. This process could be said to symbolize the work of an actor. The work of an actor is to communicate between different bodies, times and worlds. The actor fights, speaks and fuses with another version of themselves. The stage converses with radical, yet also primordial, memories of the body.
Extract from “Self-Recognition Through the Sense of Touch”,
theatre review by Yoko Kuki, TEATRO October 2018 Edition, “August in Kansai”
Dates
〈KYOTO〉
THEATRE E9 KYOTO
2019
7.25(Thu) 19:30
*Sennojo Shigeyama(Kyogen Actor)
7.26(Fri) 19:30
*Syohei Takasaka(President＆CEO of La Himawari Corporation)
7.27(Sat) 15:00
*Atsushi Tezuka(Poet)
7.28(Sun) 15:00
*Masaki Nakamasa(Dramaturge of the play)
7.29(Mon) 15:00
*Sol Yang（General Chair of the Higashi Kujo Madang Organizing Committee）
*post performance talk with
＊ Reception/doors will open 30 minutes before the performance.
＊Entry of children under school age is not permitted.
＊Please be aware that this performance features some nudity.
〈KANAZAWA〉
Performing Square, Kanazawa Citizen’s Art Center
2019
8.3（Sat）15:00
*Shinji Kinoshita(Musical Director of the play), Hirokazu Ota(Director of Kanazawa Citizen’s Art Center), Daisuke Kinoshita(Composer, Former Director of Kanazawa Citizen’s Art Center)
8.4（Sun）15:00
*Tomomi Kawaguchi(Costume Director of the play), Masaki Nakamasa(Dramaturge of the play), Hirokazu Ota(Director of Kanazawa Citizen’s Art Center), Tokijiro Iguchi(the Dream Chop Theatre Company, Former Director of Kanazawa Citizen’s Art Center)
*post performance talk with
＊ Reception/doors will open 30 minutes before the performance.
＊Entry of children under school age is not permitted.
＊Please be aware that this performance features some nudity.
Language
Performed in Japanese with English subtitle
Cast & Staff
Written and Directed by Satoshi Ago
Cast: Hiroshi Ota (the Seinendan Theatre Company), Kei Tsujimoto, Anna Matsumoto,
Maki Ota- Soprano, Maho Irie- Violin (Resident of Kanazawa Citizen’s Art Center in the fiscal 2019), Megumi Ikeda- Violin (Resident of Kanazawa Citizen’s Art Center in the fiscal 2019)
Dramaturge: Masaki Nakamasa (Professor of Kanazawa University)
Assistant Director: Ryo Mikuriya
Musical Director: Shinji Kinoshita
Musical Dramaturge: Sunao Isaji
Costume Director: Tomomi Kawaguchi
Costume Making: Sosuke Nomura, Ayumi Kano, Haruka Kita, Ami Kumakawa, Hina Yamamoto（Kanazawa Bunka Fashion College, All of the above）
Stage Manager: Shuji Hamamura
Lighting: Yukiko Yoshimoto(MAHIRU)
Sound: Mina Hayashi
Set Design: Yasue Ago
Subtitle Translator: Christopher Stevens
Subtitle Operator: Aya Nishimoto
Publishing Design: Eidai Nagato
Production Manager: Mihoko Akutagawa and Misako Fukumori(ARTS SEED KYOTO), Hirokazu Ota(Kanazawa Citizen’s Art Center), Michiko Haga, Towa Oka
Cooperated by K-CUBIC, PAFOKURU
Presented by ARTS SEED KYOTO (on Kyoto), Kanazawa Citizen’s Art Center (on Kanazawa)
Co-presented by Kanazawa-city, Kanazawa Art Promotion & Development Foundation (on Kanazawa, All of the above)
Supported by ASAHI Group Arts Foundation, Kyoto Power of Culture Project (on Kyoto, All of the above)
Profile
Satoshi Ago
Playwright, Director, THEATRE E9 KYOTO Artistic Director
ARTS SEED KYOTO Representative Director
With replication and pure language as his central themes, Ago produces theatrical works that may or may not feature a human presence on stage. Besides producing work himself, he has also been active in establishing the new Theatre E9 Kyoto. Ago has also worked on a number of collaborations with contemporary artists such as Yasumasa Morimura and Miwa Yanagi.
2007 Young Director Competition First Prize
2010 Promoted by the Kyoto City Special Policy for Art and Culture
2012 Toga Theatre Competition Encouragement Award
2017 Kyoto City New Artistic Talent Award
2014-2017 Atelier Gekken Director
Kyoto University of Art and Design Part-Time Lecturer
Doshisha Women’s College of Liber numerous works al Arts Special Lecturer
Hiroshi Ota
Actor affiliated to the Seinendan Theatre Company
Ota has appeared in plays by Oriza Hirata such as Tokyo Notes, Citizens of Seoul, Kings of the Road, New Kings of the Road, Isn’t Life More Than Goodbyes and the robot play I, Worker.
Has also appeared in the Seinendan International Exchange Project with Japanese and French Collaborative Performances such as Farewell songs and LOVE’S END. Outside of Seinendan he has often worked with French theatre directors in plays such as Hiroshima Mon Amour and Larmes. With Seinendan Link RoMT he has also performed in challenging long duration one-man plays such as You Can See the Hills and A Gambler’s Guide to Dying, receiving critical acclaim.
Shinji Kinoshita
Composer,Video Artist
Kinoshita was active as part of a techno pop group in the late ‘80s. He also provided music for pop songs and idols. Afterwards he participated in soundtracks for films and television and made new age music, while also producing jazz CDs in New York. Later he wandered as a backpacker through countries and regions in Asia such as Okinawa, Yakushima, India, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Bali and produced healing music by fusing the natural sounds he recorded there with digital music. He moved to Kyoto in 2008 and has since produced music and video for works in the performing arts.
Masaki Nakamasa
Professor of Kanazawa University (Political Philosophy), PhD
Works: 《Walter Benjamin》《Introduction to Anti-Oedipus》（pub. Sakuhinsha）《Reading Hannah Arendt again》(pub. Kodansha) 《Evil and Totalitarianism》（pub. NHK Publishing）
Ticket purchase & Booking
Ticket Prices
(Unreserved seating / Specified Date / Tax included)
〈KYOTO〉
Advance: ¥3,000 (Student ¥2,500)
At the door: ¥3,500 (Student ¥3,000)
〈KANAZAWA〉
Advance: ¥2,800 (Student ¥2,300)
At the door: ¥3,300 (Student ¥2,800)
Tickets (both venues) Available from :
THEATRE E9 KYOYO website
https://askyoto.or.jp/e9/ticket/e9ag0725
Contact
〈KYOTO〉
ARTS SEED KYOTO https://askyoto.or.jp/
TEL : 075-661-2515 FAX : 075-661-2516
E-mail : info@askyoto.or.jp
〈KANAZAWA〉
Kanazawa Citizen’s Art Center http://www.artvillage.gr.jp
TEL : 076-265-8300 FAX : 076-265-8300
E-mail : geimura@kanazawa-arts.or.jp