Journey to the Southeast
Japanese theatre company Ryuzanji makes its Thai debut with three performances and a workshop
AFTER TOURING CITIES in Indonesia, the 34-year-old Japanese company Ryuzanji will be in Thailand this Sunday for the first time.
The Ryuzanji Company has its origins in Kabuki as well as Angura – Japan’s underground theatre movement of the 1960s, a time when Japan’s contemporary theatre culture underwent a revolution. Show Ryuzanji founded the company in 1984 after participating in two of the major Shogekijo movement theatre companies, Jokyo Gekijo, led by Kara Juro and Wazeda Shogekijo, led by Tadashi Suzuki.
Adapting and reinterpreting Broadway musicals, Shakespeare’s and Chekov’s plays as well as Kabuki’s scripts, the company has created more than 300 works, collaborated with leading Japanese theatre artists in addition to young producers and performed in the US and the UK as well as Egypt, Iran and Russia.
The company operates under the vision that “theatre is an asylum”, creating a new theatre network within Japan and around the world together with “friends we haven’t met yet”.
In selecting his performers, Show says, “I’m not particularly looking for any special skills, but how they can work with other people, especially those they’re not yet familiar with. We’re putting on six to eight productions in a year and spending about two months on domestic and international tours and so they need to be in good health and able to work under pressure. And as theatre is a composite art, we’re also training designers and producers.”
Show has selected an epic Chinese folk tale “Journey to the West” because “it shows the diversity of Asian cultures and at the same time how some of them influence and blend with one another.”
The original tale of course is very long and in this version the performance time is about 100 minutes. Show explains, “From the original story, we have the recurring images of the immortal Monkey King Sun Wukong and the unreachable Bharata Land. In our version, we want the audience to enjoy the endless imagination and the story doesn’t have a definite ending.
“Our main mission is to reinterpret the old tale in the framework of contemporary theatre and the director Tengai Amano achieves this by using various techniques from lighting and sound, computer graphics to dance and sword fights. We also adapt to various styles of performance venues, going from a 200-seat studio theatre to a 500-seat concert hall to an outdoor stage at Borobudur. The computer graphics will change in accordance with the local audience’s language and culture. It’s like we and the audience are creating this work together.”
“In Jakarta, Yogyakarta and Borobudur, audiences, adults and kids, have various emotional reactions throughout the play –they’re amused, excited, surprised and even stunned.”
This is the first time Ryuzanji Company is performing in Thailand.
“We have to thank especially [B-Floor Theatre’s] Teerawat ‘Ka-ge’ Mulvilai. I met him for the first time on a flight back from at a festival in Cairo, and I always remember the date because it was September 11, 2001. We have kept in touch ever since. We are also grateful to the ‘World Performances @ Drama Chula’ programme, which is hosting us.”
Ka-ge will also make a special cameo performance in “Journey to the West” this Sunday. On Monday, the Monkey King Sun Wukong will meet our Hanuman, and on Tuesday, another surprise from this gay capital of Asia.
The theatre company’s first trip to Thailand is being made possible with the support of the Agency for Cultural Affairs, Government of Japan, the Japan Foundation Bangkok and the “World Performances @ Drama Chula” programme.
The writer wishes to thank Piyawat Thamkulangkool for his translation assistance.
ROOTS RUN UNDERGROUND
- “Journey to the West” runs from Sunday to Tuesday at Chulalongkorn University’s Sodsai Pantoomkomol Centre for Dramatic Arts. It’s a 10-minute walk along Henri Dunant Road from BTS Siam, Exit 6. Shows are at 2pm on Sunday and 7.30pm on Monday and Tuesday. It’s in Japanese, with English and Thai surtitles and is followed by a discussion. Tickets cost Bt600 (Bt300 for students; Bt400 for professional artists and those younger than 27).
- Show Ryuzanji will lecture on “Japanese Underground Theatre” and hold a “Body Practice for Performer” workshop from 1 to 4pm on Tuesday. It will have Thai translation. Admission is free but is limited to 25 participants.
- For details, call (02) 218 4802 and (081) 559 7252 or check www.Facebook.com/dramaartschula.
