Yuko Kuwabara, Takuya Yokoyama, Shiro Maeda, Satoko Ichihara, Tomohiro Maekawa

The Methuen Drama Book of Contemporary Japanese Plays (eBook, PDF)

The Bacchae-Holstein Milk Cows; One Night; Isn't Anyone Alive?; The Sun; Carcass

• Format: PDF

Produktbeschreibung

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 (Translated by Aya Ogawa)
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 (Translated by Mari Boyd)
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 (Translated by Miwa Monden)
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 (Translated by Nozomi Abe)
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 (Translated by Mari Boyd)
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.

Produktdetails

• Verlag: Bloomsbury UK
• Seitenzahl: 400
• Erscheinungstermin: 24. März 2022
• Englisch
• ISBN-13: 9781350278394
• Artikelnr.: 63325244

Autorenporträt

Yuko Kuwabara is a Playwright, Director, and Head of the KAKUTA Theatre Company. Born in Tokyo, Yuko Kuwabara founded the KAKUTA theatre company in 1996. A Sweet Hill (2006) was her very first work to be shortlisted for an award?the 2007 Kishida Drama Prize?and the revival of the play won the 64th Agency of Cultural Affairs National Arts Festival Award and the New Artist Award (for script and directing) in 2009. Her Outen was shortlisted for the 15th Tsuruya Nanboku Drama Award and the 56th Kunio Kishida Drama Prize in 2012, and Traces?on and on won the 18th Tsuruya Nanboku Drama Award in 2015. The Wasteland (Honokuni Toyohashi Arts Theatre PLAT independent won the 5th Hayakawa Higeki Kigeki Award in January 2018. She won the 70th Yomiuri Prize for Literature in the Drama and Scenario division in 2019. Besides plays, Kuwabara writes TV dramas and screenplays, such as Junior High
Student's Diary (NHK Educatio nal TV) and the film Rambling Heart. One Night was made into a film (dir. Kazuya Shiraishi) in 2019.

Inhaltsangabe

Introduction Japanese Theatre by Playwrights of Generation X and on The
Bacchae-Holstein Milk Cows Introduction to the Playwright and the Play
Playwright Biography Playtext One Night Introduction to the Playwright and
the Play Playwright Biography Playtext Isn't Anyone Alive? Introduction to
the Playwright and the Play Playwright Biography Playtext The Sun
Introduction to the Playwright and the Play Playwright Biography Playtext
Carcass Introduction to the Playwright and the Play Playwright Biography
Playtext