News & Features

DRAMA: 8TH January, 2020

2020/21 Season Drama at the New National Theatre, Tokyo

We are pleased to announce the 2020/21 Drama Season at the New National Theatre, Tokyo.

7 PRODUCTIONS IN TOTAL

    Message from OGAWA Eriko, Artistic Director of Drama

    The 2020/2021 season will be my third year as the Artistic Director. I hope that this season will bring the diversity, richness and excitement of theatre, not only to theatre lovers, but also to those who haven't yet discovered theatre.

    We open the season by inviting The Glass Menagerie from Odéon-Théâtre de l'Europe. Directed by Ivo van Hove, the classic will be led by the French national treasure Isabelle Huppert. We are delighted to bring this much anticipated piece, scheduled to open in Paris this March.
    Following this is Richard II directed by UYAMA Hitoshi. This prequel to the 2016 production of Henry IV will conclude the Shakespeare's History Plays Series which started in 2009. To further celebrate the conclusion of the 10 year long series, there will be a special screening of the series' past productions.
    In December, as the third installation of the "Plays for Both Kids and Used-To-Be Kids" Series, we will be presenting Peter and the Starcatcher, an adaptation from the prequel novel of the famous Peter Pan.
    To showcase beloved Japanese classics, "The Power of Caring" will start in April and continue through June as a three part series. Part I is Kirare no Senta by MIYOSHI Juro. I am delighted to welcome KAMIMURA Satoshi as the director. Part II will be Tokyo Godfathers. It will be the first ever stage adaptation of KON Satoshi's masterpiece feature anime. The production will change the setting to 2021 Tokyo and revive the tale of humanity and courage with a theatrical twist. FUJITA Shuntaro will direct the production, directing at the New National Theatre, Tokyo for the first time. Part III is INOUE Hisashi's Kinema no Tenchi.

    The Short Play Festival will be held in July. We will be presenting short theatrical pieces in various spaces throughout the theatre. It will be a festival enjoyable to those who aren't familiar with theatre.

    Apart from our productions, the second team of Kotsu-Kotsu Project will begin. The Playwright's Workshop with the Royal Court Theatre is continuing from the past season, and we aim to hold a rehearsed reading in London this year to conclude the project.

    Additionally, The Gallery Project - workshop for teenagers, "Jobs in Theatre" talks and "Behind the Curtains" talks - will continue to be a part of our program.

    I hope you come and join us for this upcoming exciting season.

    Profile of OGAWA Eriko

    OGAWA Eriko graduated from Actors Studio Drama School Directing Program in New York in 2004. In 2006 and 2007, she was accepted onto the Agency for Cultural Affairs' Program of Overseas Study for Upcoming Artists.

    In 2010, she was awarded the third Odashima Yushi Drama Translation Award for her translation of Sam SHEPARD's The Late Henry Moss. In 2012, she was the recipient of the 19th Yomiuri Drama Awards Best Director and the Haruko Sugimura Award for her direction of Twelve Angry Men, An Inspector Calls and Pride. Her direction of The Pillowman, The Homecoming and Opus earned her the 48th Kinokuniya Drama Award for Individual Achievement, the 16th Koreya Senda Award and the 21st Yomiuri Drama Awards Best Director in 2014.

    At the New National Theatre, Tokyo she has directed Opus, Constellations, The Head of Mary: Nagasaki as Theophany, 1984, Skylight, Keep Walking, and Guards at the Taj. She has also worked on the translations of The Winslow Boy and The Seagull. In September 2016, she took on the role of Artistic Consultant for Drama, and in 2018 she assumed office as the theatre's Artistic Director of Drama.

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