photo Hideto Maezawa
The future of theater and language opened up by creation with actors whose first language is not Japanese
An unprecedented sci-fi-type play mingling different realities

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With an important mission to fulfill, the spaceship In-Between cruises through the universe with a crew of four human beings and one android.

In The Window of Spaceship ‘In-Between’, there are a substantive reality and a formal reality. Both of these realities are presented in parallel.

In the theater and on the stage, lines are delivered in a certain language…
The Window of Spaceship ‘In-Between’ also presents a plurality of related meanings and functions.

It could be termed something like a multiverse.

The Window of Spaceship ‘In-Between’ has a presentation, form, and action that surely differ from what most people picture when they hear that it is a play performed in Japanese by actors whose first language is not Japanese.

Toshiki Okada
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About “Theater project with non-native Japanese speaker”
Theater can be successful even without an agreement between the attributes of the actors and their roles. The fact is, however, that the work of actors whose first language is not Japanese is liable to be judged by matters that have nothing to do with their theatrical talent, merely because of “incorrectness” in their pronunciation or grammar.
On the site of creation in German theaters, actors whose first language is not German are judged by their genuine acting ability, not their fluency in German. Witnessing this, Toshiki Okada felt doubts about the state of Japanese-language theater, which is dominated by Japanese generally regarded as “correct.” In response, he conceived and elaborated the idea of collaboration with actors whose first language is not Japanese, with a view to exploring the possibilities of Japanese.
Beginning in 2021, chelfitsch recruited participants for and deepened its thinking on the project through workshops and talk events. In the months of March and April 2023, the troupe held auditions for actors who had taken part in the workshops up to that time, and selected four to be in the play. It then created and announced The Window of Spaceship ‘In-Between’ together with these four.

Performance Outline
Performance in Wuzhen (Wuzhen Theatre Festival 2023)
Schedule｜
2023
10/27(Fri)20:00
10/28(Sat)16:00/21:30
Language | Japanese with English and Chinese subtitles
Venue｜N THEATRE
Details

Performance in Kyoto(KYOTO EXPERIMENT)

30th September - 3ed Octorber, 2023 at ROHM Theater Kyoto North Hall(Kyoto) Details