Two shows to catch at the World Theatre Festival Shizuoka 2024

These two Japanese stage productions come with English-language support

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Photo: Masashi Hirao'The Castle Tower' from World Theatre Festival Shizuoka 2023
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Photo: Y. Inokuma'Hamlet in the Imperative!' from World Theatre Festival Shizuoka 2023
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Photo: World Theatre Festival Shizuoka
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Written by Time Out. Paid for by Shizuoka Performing Arts Center

Tuesday 23 April 2024

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World Theatre Festival Shizuoka is a once-a-year opportunity to enjoy captivating theatrical productions in Shizuoka prefecture, where verdant nature meets the ocean. Seven days of outdoor and indoor performances, taking place over the Golden Week holiday, come courtesy of leading Japanese and international talents and centre upon two scenic locations. Shizuoka Performing Arts Park, majestically overlooked by Mt. Fuji, is home to the cutting-edge architecture of the Shizuoka Performing Arts Center (SPAC). Sumpu Castle Park, meanwhile, hosts the remains of a fortress known as the ‘Castle of the Floating Isle’.

SPAC first conceived the festival almost a quarter of a century ago, with the intention of connecting Shizuoka prefecture with the wider world through theatrical art. Running from April 27 to May 6, the 2024 edition more than fulfils this ambition, with the programme including two plays that are English-subtitled. Tickets are now available online.

While you're in Shizuoka for the theatre festival, make sure you also check out the free street circus and dance performances by Strange Seed. These are held between May 4 and May 6 at downtown Shizuoka as well as selected parks in the city.

‘Friends’: A Kobo Abe-penned black comedy explores social pressure

Photo: World Theatre Festival Shizuoka

Director Makoto Nakashima presents his rendition of a darkly humorous masterpiece by writer and playwright Kobo Abe, who would have celebrated his 100th birthday this year. ‘Friends’ was first published as a written work in 1967, at a time when unprecedented economic success was transforming Japanese society.

What here unfolds at dusk on an outdoor stage is, conversely, a claustrophobic-feeling drama in which a family, believing solitary lifestyles to be ‘wrong’, invades the home of a stranger living the single life. This decades-old story is arguably more relevant than ever, in a present day where record numbers of people live alone.

Dates: Saturday April 27, Sunday April 28
Time: 6.30pm
Venue: Open-air theatre Udo, Shizuoka Performing Arts Park
Tickets: ¥4,200 (student & disability discounts available)

Get your tickets now.

‘Legend of The White Fox’: A supernatural love story with environmental significance

Photo: Takashi Kato

Momijiyama Garden Square, within Sumpu Castle Park, plays host to an outdoor production of ‘The White Fox’, an opera by Meiji-era (1868-1912) writer and artist Tenshin Okakura. This production, with a new script by director Satoshi Miyagi, takes advantage of its singular venue to spellbindingly bring to life the tale of a white fox with supernatural powers, and its love affair with a human male.

Written in English, Okakura’s (unfinished) opera draws upon the legend of Kuzunoha, a fox character in Japanese folklore that has long been a popular theme in kabuki and bunraku puppet theatre. This new production addresses the highly topical question of humankind’s relationship with the environment.

Dates: Friday May 3 to Monday May 6
Time: 7pm
Venue: Momijiyama Garden Square, Sumpu Castle Park
Tickets: ¥4,200 (student & disability discounts available)

Get your tickets now.

World Theatre Festival Shizuoka 2024 is commissioned by Japan Cultural Expo 2.0, and organised by Shizuoka Performing Arts Center (SPAC), Japan Arts Council, and the Agency for Cultural Affairs of the Government of Japan.