Hot spring in Asia at New National Theatre Tokyo

The "With – Connecting with World Theatre –" series was conceived as a platform to encourage examination of Japan, through exchange with international theatre makers. For the first installment, we looked to Wales; for the second, we look to Korea.
The NNTT has mounted projects with Korean playwrights, directors and actors on several past occasions. In 2002, the year of the FIFA World Cup co-hosted by South Korea and Japan, the NNTT presented Across the River in May (written by Hirata Oriza and Kim Myong-Hwa, directed by Lee Byung-Hoon and Hirata Oriza); and in 2008, we presented Yakiniku Dragon (written and directed by Chong Wishing). The plays were praised as having a depth of substance too often lacking in past projects - of which it might be said that the foremost objective was cultural exchange in itself - and racked up numerous theatre awards in Japan and in South Korea.
Now, in our series "With – Connecting with World Theatre –", the NNTT will present a work developed with playwright Chong Wishing and director Sohn Jin-chaek. This festive play abounds with dynamic and dramatic music, and should be entertaining for adults and children alike.
Sohn Jin-chaek directed the production of Arial Dorfman's The Other Side for its world premiere at the NNTT in 2004. The play deals with the theme of borders. Sohn, who knows what it means to live in a nation divided, showed himself to be a director of penetrating insight. Sohn Jin-chaek is currently the president and artistic director of the National Theater Company of Korea. He is active in promoting cultural exchange with European countries and the US, and with China and countries across Asia.
In this production, we hope to take the "madang-nori" style* Sohn created in new directions. The cast will feature Korean and Japanese actors performing in the languages of both countries. It is theatre-in-the-round, a style that Sohn has used with great success in past productions.

*"Madang" is a common Korean word meaning "yard" or "court", and which connotes a sense of intimacy; "nori" means "theatre". In its plays, the Michoo Theatre Company, formerly led by Sohn Jin-chaek, presents the lifestyles and attitudes that are linked closely to Korean identity. Sohn has devoted his energies to keeping alive the spirit of what it means to be Korean. For millennia, Korea was an agrarian society. Many farming villages maintained a long tradition of holding outdoor performances, popular entertainments that typically involved masked actors and puppetry. Madang-nori draws on that tradition and plumbs the Korean classics for its subject matter, yet thoroughly reflects the world as it is today. The result is a new form of theatre for the masses, rich in humor and satire. Madang-nori is staged not in the more common proscenium style, but on an arena stage with the audience on all sides. It gives audiences a unique look at the theatre in its primitive form, and the way it was originally meant to be.