Yokohama-based Chelfitsch theater company is currently staging a short Tokyo season prior to a European tour with its highly acclaimed "Hotpepper, Air Conditioner, and the Farewell Speech," which premiered at the Hebbel am Ufer Theatre (HAU) in Berlin last October.
In 2004, Chelfitsch's avant-garde founder and leader, Hiroki Okada, made a short, experimental dance-theater program titled "Air Conditioner," which featured self-centered workers in an office complaining about the temperature of an air conditioner — oblivious to the anxieties of office temp workers facing contract renewals. That piece, which was a finalist for the Toyota Choreography Award 2005, spread Chelfitsch's name throughout Japan and the international performing-arts scene. Building on that, the company has since made great inroads into the European stage scene, where it is now well known as a cutting-edge company that portrays the lives of Japanese youth.
Following the initial success in Berlin, Okada added two more short pieces for HAU — "Hotpepper" and "Farewell Speech" — and set each program to different types of music, by artists such as John Cage ("Hotpepper"), John Coltrane ("Farewell Speech"), Stereolab and Tortoise ("Air Conditioner"). Conceived as a triple-bill omnibus program, "Hotpepper" is about those contract workers organizing a farewell party for one of their staff, while "Farewell Speech" covers that worker's parting speech in the office.
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/fq20100507a2.html
No comments:
Post a Comment