We are pleased to announce the 2021/22 Drama Season at the New National Theatre, Tokyo.

6 PRODUCTIONS IN TOTAL

• The Glass Menagerie (Creation Odéon - Théâtre de l'Europe)
  
• Iroaseru
• Bubbling and Boiling
• Series "Criticism" Vol.1 The Antipodes
• Series "Criticism" Vol.2 Lobby Hero
• Series "Criticism" Vol.3 Der Besuch der alten Dame

Message from OGAWA Eriko, Artistic Director of Drama

The global pandemic that began in early 2020 is unlike anything seen in our lifetimes. Many lives have been lost, all manner of social activities have been disrupted, and feelings of unease, suffering, and loss have been widespread. Great numbers of live performances have been canceled in Japan as well as overseas. The lives and the time lost cannot be brought back. But those of us who live on can go forward in the belief that the crisis has shown us steps we can take towards a different future. We must not forget what has taken place, and I hope the lessons learned can be of some value well into the future.

The 2021/2022 season will include productions that had been put on hold along with new works that are being developed through the pandemic. The season opener is a show that was canceled last season, the Odéon-Théâtre de l'Europe production of The Glass Menagerie. No sooner had the show opened in France last year when performances were halted. Now, after a new round of rehearsals and performance runs in France and Germany, the play will be mounted here at the NNTT. Europe has suffered much loss and been through multiple lockdowns, and I hope this can be a chance to reflect on how social activities and live performance have been resumed and how they have changed.

In November we will present Iroaseru, the fourth in a series of productions in which all roles have been cast by audition. Directing will be KURAMOCHI Yutaka, who also produced the script. Iroaseru will be the first contemporary work featured in our "Full Audition Programme". (The second installment, Reaction Process, was canceled just before opening day. But the entire cast has come back together, and Reaction Process is now slated for summer 2021.) It means a lot to us to see so many respond to the calls for auditions each year. We will be continuing the programme and looking to make it even better.

Then in December, we present Bubbling and Boiling, a production that grew out of the "KOTSU-KOTSU Project" that was launched during the 2018/2019 season. The aim of the KOTSU-KOTSU Project is to take a step back from the frenzy of the typical production cycle and develop works over an entire year and explore the role of the theatre as a "place for creation".. This project also saw major scheduling changes due to the pandemic. Now after working and reworking the material over those extra weeks and months, it will be performed on stage at last. Directing is NISHIZAWA Eiji. This spring, we will be welcoming three new directors to partake in this project, and the three works will be refined and polished in rehearsals over the course of a year.

Spring 2022 will see the launch of a three-part series about criticism. The aim of the series is to reexamine the idea of debate, in which a diversity of opinions are aired freely so as to get at truths that cannot be arrived at on one's own. Claims to rightness, extreme arguments, and criticisms that ignore the other side, not to mention verbal abuse, do not lead to debate. Diverse exchange of opinions result from showing each other some respect, and by using not one's righteousness but rather words that can reach those on the other side. Diversity can be difficult to recognize in Japan, and yet we all live different lives and have our own ideas. I hope to have this be an opportunity to consider dialogue and debate rooted in respect for each individual and their societal need. The three works to be presented are Annie BAKER's The Antipodes, Kenneth LONERGAN's Lobby Hero, and Friedrich DÜRRENMATT's Der Besuch der alten Dame (The Visit). Directing will be KUWABARA Yuko, GONOHE Marie, and myself, OGAWA Eriko.

And in addition to our Gallery Project, which includes theatre workshops for junior high and high school students as well as guided tours that take guests behind the scenes of our productions, NNTT will continue its program aimed at enhancing the theatregoing experience of guests who are visually or hearing impaired.

I'm sure there are a great many who have not made it out to the theatre since the pandemic began. We will be working as a team to ensure that all who want to can come and enjoy a show, confident that steps are being taken to minimize risk.

All of us very much look forward to seeing you here at the theatre.

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.