Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Black Stripe Theater
B1 Sangubashi Guesthouse,
4-50-8 Yoyogi, Shibuya-ku
T
080 4184 0848,
W
black
stripetheater.com; Sangubashi station.
A relatively
recent addition to the expat theatre scene, this company
has staged plays by Harold Pinter and David Mamet.
Tickets ¥3500 on the door, ¥3000 in advance.
chelfitsch
W
chelfitsch.net.
Founded by award-winning
writer Okada Toshiki, this internationally acclaimed group
put on excellent shows in Tokyo when they're not busy
touring the globe. They can usually be relied on for one
new performance each year, although the venues and
prices vary.
The Globe Tokyo
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3-1-2 Hyakunin-chō,
Shinjuku-ku
T
03 3366 4020; Shin-Ōkubo station.
A variety of works, including Shakespearean plays and
Western-style operas, are performed in this modern-day
replica of the famous Elizabethan stage in London. Tickets
from ¥4500.
New National Theatre
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1-20 Honmachi,
Shinjuku-ku
T
03 5352 9999,
W
nntt.jac.go.jp;
Hatsudai station.
Just behind Tokyo Opera City, the New
National Theatre comprises three stages specially designed
for Western performing arts, including opera, ballet, dance
and drama.
PUK
2-12-3 Yoyogi, Shibuya-ku,
T
03 3370 5128;
Shinjuku station.
This charming puppet theatre was
founded in 1929 as La Pupa Klubo. It's home to a resident
group of puppeteers, as well as visiting troupes, and puts
on shows that both young and old can enjoy.
Setagaya Public Theatre
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4-1-1 Taishido, Setagaya-ku
T
03 5432 1526,
W
setagaya-pt.jp; Sangenjaya station.
One of Tokyo's
most watchable contemporary theatre companies speciali-
zing in contemporary drama and dance. There are two
auditoria: one seats 600 and the other 218.
Takarazuka Theatre
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1-1-3 Yūrakuchō,
Chūō-ku
T
03 5251 2001; Hibiya station.
Mostly stages
musicals, punched out by a huge cast in fabulous costumes.
The theatre, immediately north of the
Imperial Hotel
(see
p.136), also stages regular Takarazuka performances (see
box below). Tickets start at ¥3500.
Theatre Cocoon
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2-24-1 Dōgenzaka,
Shibuya-ku
T
03 3477 9999,
W
www.bunkamura.co.jp;
Shibuya station.
Part of Shibuya's Bunkamura arts centre,
this modern theatre hosts some of Tokyo's more accessible
fringe productions.
Theatre Iwato
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7 Iwato-chō, Shinjuku-ku
T
03 5225 3635; Ushigome-Kagurazaka station.
Leading fringe theatre where you can see productions by,
among others, the expat troupe Black Stripe Theater (see
above).
Tokyo International Players
W
tokyoplayers.org.
Tokyo International Players has been going for over a
century, feeding off the ever-changing cast of foreign
acting talent that passes through the city. Their website
lists their productions, mounted four or five times a year
at venues across the city; details can also be found in the
English-language press.
Za Kōenji
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2-1-2 Kōenji-Kita, Suginami-ku
T
03 3223 7300,
W
za-koenji.jp; Kōenji station.
Managed by the non-profit Creative Theater Network,
this new venue - in a suitably dramatic building designed
by leading architect Itō Toyō - presents a high-quality
programme of drama, dance and music performances.
17
TAKARAZUKA
There's a long tradition of men performing female roles in Japanese theatre, acting out a male
fantasy of how women are supposed to behave. It's not so strange, then, that actresses playing
idealized men have struck such a chord with contemporary female audiences. Along with
glitzy productions, this has been the successful formula of the all-female
Takarazuka Review
Company
(
W
kageki.hankyu.co.jp/english/index.html), founded in 1914 in Takarazuka, a town
20km northwest of Ōsaka.
The company's founder, Kobayashi Ichizō, was mightily impressed by performances of
Western operas he'd seen in Tokyo. He sensed that Japanese audiences were ripe for lively
Western musical dramas, but he wanted to preserve something of Japan's traditional theatre,
too. So, as well as performing dance reviews and musicals, Takarazuka act out classical
Japanese plays and have developed shows from Western novels, including
Gone with the Wind
and
War and Peace
.
Thousands of young girls apply annually to join the troupe at the age of 16, and devote
themselves to a punishing routine of classes that will enable them to embody the “modesty,
fairness and grace” (the company's motto) expected of a Takarazuka member. They must also
forsake boyfriends, but in return are guaranteed the slavish adoration of an almost exclusively
female audience, who go particularly crazy for the male impersonators or
otoko-yaku
.
