Metamorphosis of a Living Room
chelfitsch & Dai Fujikura with SYMPHONIC ARMONIA
- Director Toshiki Okada
- Genre Theatre
- Date 11.1.Sat. 7:00pm 11.2.Sun. 7:00pm
- Conversation with Artists This content is coming soon.
- Language Japanese
- Accessibility English surtitle
- Rating 13 and over
- Venue Daehakro Arts Theater Main Hall
- Duration 80 min.
- Premiere 2023 Wiener Festwochen, Austria
- Tickets R 65,000won S 50,000won A 30,000won
A sensorial clash of theatre and music, unfolding a new dimension of the living room
Introduction<Metamorphosis of a Living Room> marks the first collaboration between internationally acclaimed theatre director Toshiki Okada and composer Dai Fujikura. The two artists, each with a distinct artistic language, experiment with a new stage format that traverses the boundaries between theatre and contemporary music. The piece begins with a family facing forced eviction, but soon takes a turn as a new catastrophe emerges—one that calls our anthropocentric view of the world into question. As it progresses, the actors gradually break away from the initial narrative and begin performing independent choreographies. Likewise, the musicians deconstruct or expand the sound, transforming the music itself.
SynopsisSix actors from Japan’s theatre company chelfitsch and seven contemporary music performers from Korea come together on stage to create a unique theatrical language. In the process, reality and fiction, movement and sound, speech and music intertwine, opening up a horizon of sensory experience. <Metamorphosis of a Living Room> blurs the lines between drama and music, inviting the audience into a world of unfamiliar sensations within a familiar space. On this stage, reality and fiction overlap, metamorphosing the living room—an everyday space of a lifetime—into an entirely new dimension.
Toshiki Okada
Playwright, director, and novelist Toshiki Okada began gaining recognition in 1997 when he founded the theatre company chelfitsch, creating works that explore the unique relationship between language and the body. In 2007, he made his international debut with <Five Days in March> at the Kunstenfestivaldesarts in Brussels. Since then, he has presented work in over 90 cities across Asia, Europe, North and South America. Since 2016, he has regularly collaborated with national and public theatres in Germany, continuing to premiere new works. Two of his notable productions <The Vacuum Cleaner> (2020, Münchner Kammerspiele) and <Doughnuts> (2022, Thalia Theater Hamburg) were both selected as part of the 10 Remarkable Productions by the Berliner Theatertreffen, receiving critical acclaim. He received the 27th Yomiuri Theater Awards Selection Committee Special Prize for his work, <Pratthana - A Portrait of Possession>, a stage adaptation of a contemporary Thai novel featuring Thai actors. His work <Unfulfilled Ghost and Monster - ZAHA / TSURUGA> (KAAT Kanagawa Arts Theater), which utilises the narrative structure of noh(能), won the Yomiuri Prize for Literature (Play/Scenario Award) and the Tsuruya Namboku Drama Award. In 2021, he directed the opera <Yuzuru(夕鶴)> (All Japan Opera Co-Production Project), expanding his artistic scope. Also active as a novelist, he published <The End of the Moment We Had> in 2007, which won the 2nd Kenzaburō Prize. In 2022, he received the 35th Mishima Yukio Prize and the 64th Kumanichi Literary Award for his novel <Broccoli Revolution> (Shinchōsha), solidifying his position as a prominent writer in the literary world.
- Playwright / Director Toshiki Okada
- Composer Dai Fujikura
- Cast Izumi Aoyagi, Chieko Asakura, Riki Ishikura, Mariko Kawasaki, Makoto Yazawa, Manami Watanabe
- Music SYMPHONIC ARMONIA
- Sound Aki Shiraishi
- Sound Supervisor Koichi Ishimaru (Tokyo Metropolitan Theatre)
- Lighting Masayoshi Takada (RYU)
- Costume Kyoko Fujitani (FAIFAI)
- Set design dot architects
- Dramaturg Masahiko Yokobori
- Technical Director Marie Moriyama
- Stage Manager Chikage Yuyama
- Technical Advisor Daijiro Kawakami (Scale Laboratory)
- English translation Aya Ogawa
- Graphic Design Mariko Okazaki (REFLECTA, Inc.)
- Producers Megumi Mizuno (precog), Tamiko Ouki (precog)
- Production Manager Yuko Takeda
- Assistant Production Manager Nanami Endo
- World premiere Klangforum Wien [Music], Wataru Omura [Cast], Makiko Yamaguchi [Creative Advisor], Andreas Regelsberger [German Translation], Asami Hori [Tour Manager], Minano Hirano [Assistant Production Manager]
- Creation Workshop Ensemble Nomad [Music], Tatsuya Tsujimoto [Cover], Ryusei Nagami [Nagie] [Sound Design]
- Commissioned by Wiener Festwochen
- Produced by Wiener Festwochen, chelfitsch
- Co-produced by KunstFestSpiele Herrenhausen, Holland Festival, Aichi Prefectural Arts Theater, The Japan Foundation
- Planning and production precog co.,LTD.
- Cooperated by KAJIMOTO, nakagoo, Steep Slope Studio, YAMABUKI FACTORY, d&b audiotechnik GmbH & Co. KG.
- With the assistance of The Saison Foundation
- <Seoul performance>
- Sound operator Tsuyoshi Endo, Takayuki Tojo (MRD)
- Lighting operator Arisa Nagasaka (RYU), Natsuki Kawamura (RYU)
- Stage Manager Takashi Kawachi
- Assistant stage manager Yuzuko Matsushima, Aiko Oguro
- Tour manager Takafumi Sakiyama
The theatre company chelfitsch was founded in 1997 by Toshiki Okada, who writes and directs all of its productions. Applauded for its distinctive methodology, which applies the relationship between quirky speech and physical movements, it attracts keen attention, both inside and outside Japan, as a troupe in the vanguard of contemporary theatre. Its slovenly, "noisy" physicality, which seems to exaggerate ordinary gestures at times and seems not to do so at others, was even likened to dance, becoming its signature aesthetic. The company made its international debut in 2007, when it performed <Five Days in March> at the Kunstenfestivaldesarts. Since then, the company has built a global presence, performing in over 90 cities in Asia, Europe, and North America. In 2011, <Hot Pepper, Air Conditioner, and the Farewell Speech> received the critics' award from the Association québécoise des critiques de théâtre in Montreal, Canada in recognition of its artistic excellence. In 2018, it produced and exhibited <Beach, Eyelids, and Curtains: chelfitsch's EIZO-Theater> at the Contemporary Art Museum Kumamoto, showcasing a new approach to constructing theatrical space through the medium of projected images. In 2019-2020, it collaborated with Teppei Kaneuji to produce <Eraser Mountain> at KYOTO EXPERIMENT 2019 and <Eraser Forest> at 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa. Created under a single concept of “EIZO-Theater,” the two pieces were performed in two different types of spaces, garnering attention for traversing the boundaries between theatre and visual arts. Chelfitsch continues to engage in co-productions with leading theatres and festivals around the world. The company constantly updates its methodology, which revolves around the relationship between speech and body, and explores new avenues of theatrical expression unbound by dramaturgy. Their major works include <Current Location> (2012), <Ground and Floor> (2013), <Super Premium Soft Double Vanilla Rich> (2014), <Time's Journey Through a Room> (2016), and <Five Days in March – Re-creation> (2017).
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