Published alongside The Japan Foundation, this collection features five
creative and bold plays by some of Japan's most prolific writers of
contemporary theatre. Translated into English for the first time, these
texts explore a wide range of themes from dystopian ideas of the future
to touching domestic tragedies.
Brought together in one volume, introduced by the authors and The Japan
Foundation, this collection offers English language readers an
unprecedented look at some of Japan's finest works of contemporary drama
by writers from across the country.
The plays include:
The Bacchae Holstein Milk Cows by Satoko Ichihara,
This play takes themes of the ancient Greek tragedy Bacchae by
Euripides to examine various aspects of contemporary society, from love
and sex, man and woman, intermixture of different species,
discrimination and abuse, to artificial insemination, criticism of
anthropocentricism and more. It was the winner of the 64th Kishida Drama
Award.
One Night by Yuko Kuwabara
The setting is a small taxi company run out of the home of its owner in
a country town. One night the mother, Koharu
Inamura, decides to leave the home in order to protect her children from
her husband's domestic violence,
promising them that she will come back in 15 years. The play depicts the
family's reunion after having to live with
the burden of that one night's (hitoyo) incident and how they restarted
their lives after it.
Isn't Anyone Alive? by Shiro Maeda
This laid back, absurdist work examines death through a goofy lens. In
the play, strange urban legends abound in
a university hospital where young people die one after another, all with
mobile phones in their hands.
The Sun by Tomohiro Maekawa
Depicts young people torn apart in a near future setting where humanity
has split into two forms: Nox humans who can only go out at night, and
Curios, the original type of humans that can live under the sun.
Carcass by Takuya Yokoyama
This play takes its name from the Japanese word for dressed carcasses of
beef and pork that have been halved along the backbone for meat . It
deals with the dignity of being alive as seen through the lives of
workers in the meat industry based on interviews and research. It won
the Japan Playwrights Association's 15th New Playwright Award in 2009.
