World Theatre Festival Shizuoka Heads Online In Desperate Times
On April 3, Shizuoka Performing Arts Center (SPAC) announced the cancellation of this year’s...
Read MoreGraduated from Chuo University with a BA in German literature, having written her dissertation on the playwright Bertolt Brecht’s theory of drama. In 2000, she got MA in arts management at City University in London. Afterwards, she began contributing theatre articles to Japan’s leading English-language newspaper, The Japan Times, for which she has now been a regular writer on contemporary drama and dance for more than 15 years. She also writes articles for a number of Japanese-language theatre magazines — including Theater Guide, Higeki Kigeki and Theatre Arts — as well as the programs for a range of stage productions in Japan and England.
Posted by Nobuko Tanaka | 10th Jun 2020 | Covid-19, Essay, Japan, News, Participatory Theatre
On April 3, Shizuoka Performing Arts Center (SPAC) announced the cancellation of this year’s...
Read MorePosted by Nobuko Tanaka | 23rd Apr 2020 | Covid-19, Japan, News, Theatre and Politics
Responses to the spread of the COVID-19 virus have varied widely from country to country and are...
Read MorePosted by Nobuko Tanaka | 27th Mar 2020 | Interview, Japan, Theatre and Politics
Ever since his Oscar-nominated Hollywood debut as Lord Katsumoto in 2003’s The Last Samurai, Ken...
Read MorePosted by Nobuko Tanaka | 28th Feb 2020 | Interview, Japan, Theatre and Gender
With William Shakespeare’s iconic use of English lost in translation, bold and reimagined versions...
Read MorePosted by Nobuko Tanaka | 24th Feb 2020 | Japan, News, Theatre and Age
In theater, as in daily life, it is possible to have too much of a good thing. Such was the case...
Read MorePosted by Nobuko Tanaka | 9th Feb 2020 | Interview, Japan, Transcultural Collaborations
Haruki Murakami is probably Japan’s best-known living writer — a worldwide bestseller with novels...
Read MorePosted by Nobuko Tanaka | 25th Jan 2020 | Collaborating Across Cultures, Japan, Review
Japanese theater gets off to a flying start in 2020 with a collaboration between leading British...
Read MorePosted by Nobuko Tanaka | 7th Jan 2020 | Japan, Musical Theatre, News, Transcultural Collaborations
As the curtain falls on 2019’s theater scene in Japan, a continuing rise in the popularity of...
Read MorePosted by Nobuko Tanaka | 28th Dec 2019 | Adaptation, Japan, Review
What is it about stories from the ancient world that attracts contemporary dramatists? One person...
Read MorePosted by Nobuko Tanaka | 26th Dec 2019 | Directing, Interview, Japan
The starting point for Dr. Hoffmann’s Sanatorium was, according to the play’s Japanese creator,...
Read MorePosted by Nobuko Tanaka | 21st Dec 2019 | Directing, Japan, News
Shuntaro Matsubara’s first contact with live theatre was in 2014, when he saw a production of...
Read MorePosted by Nobuko Tanaka | 21st Oct 2019 | Japan, Musical Theatre, Review
Back in 1961, Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins’ Hollywood film West Side Story became something of a...
Read MorePosted by Nobuko Tanaka | 18th Oct 2019 | Japan, News
The title of Hideki Noda’s new play is Q: A Night At The Kabuki. The “Q” refers to British rock...
Read MorePosted by Nobuko Tanaka | 30th Aug 2019 | Japan, Review, Theatre and Politics
The sudden Aug. 3 closure of After “Freedom of Expression?” — a multi-artist exhibit...
Read MorePosted by Nobuko Tanaka | 1st Aug 2019 | Adaptation, Directing, Japan, News, Thailand, Transcultural Collaborations
Never at risk of being run of the mill, Chelfitsch — which took its name from a baby’s...
Read MorePosted by Nobuko Tanaka | 21st Jul 2019 | Japan, Playwriting, Review
Tokyo’s cozy 60-odd-seat Komaba Agora Theater isn’t perhaps where you would expect a cutting-edge...
Read MorePosted by Nobuko Tanaka | 14th Jul 2019 | Adaptation, Dramaturgy, Ireland, Japan, News
Why are thespians the world over so drawn to Waiting for Godot, that for many older actors playing...
Read MorePosted by Nobuko Tanaka | 16th May 2019 | Adaptation, Japan, News, Transcultural Collaborations
With praise for his Hamlet with the Royal Shakespeare Company in 2016 still ringing in his ears —...
Read MorePosted by Nobuko Tanaka | 4th May 2019 | Adaptation, Japan, News, Transcultural Collaborations
Tom Stoppard is one of the most influential figures in theater today and one of the most...
Read MorePosted by Nobuko Tanaka | 23rd Mar 2019 | Essay, Japan, News
For many people, the mention of kabuki brings to mind images of exaggerated makeup on actors’...
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