Kyodo World Service, April 26th, 2007
Renowned Japanese theatre director Yukio Ninagawa's new
adaptation of William Shakespeare's Coriolanus opening Wednesday in
central London looks set to be a much anticipated highlight in a
series of works performed to celebrate the 25th birthday of the
innovative Barbican theatre.
''It was almost essential that Ninagawa should be part of the
birthday celebrations because the relationship with him and the
Barbican has been over so many years,'' Barbican's Head of Theatre
Louise Jeffreys told Kyodo News.
''I would hate to say that one artist was more important than
another but it's a definite highlight -- he's a very important
artist; he's got a very important connection to us; and it's a
wonderful production,'' Jeffreys added, explaining that she had a
preview of Ninagawa's Coriolanus in a visit to Tokyo.
With the director renowned for producing unpredictable, yet epic
and highly-choreographed, interpretations of Shakespeare in a fusion
of east and west, modern and traditional theatre, there is no reason
for Coriolanus not to be as big a hit with the audience as it is with
the theatre's head.
Based on the Shakespearian tale of the arrogant warrior leader
Caius Marcius Coriolanus, who is ultimately brought down by his
pride; the play deals with the power struggles within the early Roman
republic.
A cast of over 40, including some of Japan's leading theatre
actors and listing Toshiaki Karasawa as Coriolanus and Kayoko
Shiraishi as Volumnia, ensures that Ninagawa's latest offering is
likely to be as memorable and as powerful as some of his past
performances which have also gone down a storm in Britain.
''He is one of the most well-known international artists amongst
the British audience,'' Jeffreys enthused, detailing that Ninagawa's
work always receives a ''wonderful mix'' of both Japanese and British
theatre-goers.
Indeed, Ninagawa's acclaim has been steadily increasing in
Britain since he directed a production of Macbeth at the Edinburgh
International Festival back in 1985, and in 2002, he received an
honorary Order of the British Empire for his contribution to the
country's theatre.
''We wouldn't be selling as many tickets as we have for this if
there wasn't a British fan-base as well as the original Japanese
following,'' Jeffreys said, noting that the performance being in
Japanese with English surtitles did not seem to have put audiences
off ''at all.''
As head of theatre, she did admit, however, that Shakespeare
presents some difficulties when surtitling is used due to the sheer
number of words involved - a problem added to by the fact that in
Ninagawa's Coriolanus ''everything is spoken very, very fast.''
Nevertheless, the box office is busy and for the play's full run
of five consecutive nights the tickets are ''nearly, nearly sold
out,'' which, Jeffreys confidently remarked, is ''really good.''
''Five performances in a theatre of 1,160 seats, for
Shakespeare, in Japanese -- that's something to be proud of,'' she
added with a laugh which acknowledges that Ninagawa's achievement of
such international critical acclaim in the theatre industry is almost
unbelievable.
