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Tokyo's Ryuzanji Company presents:

HANAFUDA DENKI
=== The Dance of Death ===

 
     
 


 

 
 

A high-voltage Japanese underground musical based on Threepenny Opera. A dead girl loving a living boy adventures between two worlds - the dead and the living!

The play's creator, Shuji Terayama once said, “Humans are incomplete cadavers”, and this work is heavily tinged with this sentiment. It's a thought-provoking meditation on how we view death and life.

Ryuzanji Company toured Hanafuda Denki in 2012, receiving an Overall Excellence Award for Design at the New York International Fringe Festival and a Pick of the Fringe award at the Victoria Fringe Festival. Ryuzanji Company is a world famous Tokyo underground theatre company that has performed in 33 cities worldwide, including Cairo, Seoul, Taipei, Moscow, and Toronto.

Hanafuda Denki was so well-received during its 2012 Fringe tour that Ryuzanji has brought it back for a special run with five shows at Montreal's Infinitheatre January 14 to 18, and seven shows at New York's HERE Art Center January 21 to 26.

 
   
     
       North American Tour 2014  
     
 

 

HANAFUDA DENKI
-The Dance of Death-

 By Shuji Terayama 
 Director, Set Design, Costumes, Make-up:  Saori Aoki
 Music: Makoto Honda
 Choreography: Daiko Ishimaru
 Subtitle Translation: Claire Tanaka
 Lighting: ROMI, Etsuo Yamagami
 Sound: Nanaho Unebe,
 Artistic Director: Show Ryuzanji

Cast: Hiroko Ito / IWAO / Munekazu Tani / Kazuhiko Satomi / Naomi Hirano / Takuya Kigure / Kanami Sakai / Naoya Yamashita / Rina Yamamaru / Sanshiro Goto / Makoto Honda / Show Ryuzanji

*Japanese with English subtitles. 


Supported by the Agency for Cultural Affairs Government of Japan in the fiscal 2013

 
 

 
NY @ Bain St-Michel (Theatre) ・・・ January 14 to 18, 2014.

      5300 St Dominique  http://www.infinitheatre.com
      Tel 514.987.1774 Fax 514.987.7281

      Reservations and Information email: box-office@infinitheatre.com
                     Tel: 514-987-1774 ext. 104. We accept Visa and Mastercard.
      Regular: 12 - 25$ 
                     Ticket on Sales :
http://www.infinitheatre.com 
     
      Tuesday- Saturday 8 pm
      Five performances only
 

 

 

Synopsis:

Featuring 23 original songs, this is a dancing and singing Shuji Terayama version of the Threepenny Opera! A black comedy musical from Japan!!!

The play is set in the Taisho Period (1912-1926) at a funeral parlour in downtown Tokyo. The funeral parlour is called the House of the Dead, and the family of the master are all said to be dead. But the only daughter of the master, Karuta falls in love with a living guy named Kitaro of the Graveyard (what an irony that a living man’s name is Kitaro of the Graveyard!) Falling in love with a living man means violating a taboo and it becomes a big issue in the family. Danjuro, the undertaker schemes to have his daughter Karuta seduced by a beautiful dead boy and tries to send her off to the world of the dead. Now three-sided, or even four-sided chasing starts, chasing one another over the world of the dead to the land of the living.
 

 
    Shuji Terayama (1935-1983)  
 

Shuji Terayama (1935-1983) was an avant-garde playwright known for his highly provocative work. He spearheaded Japan’s avant-garde arts movement as a playwright, stage director, film director, poet, photographer, novelist, songwriter, and more. His controversial book “Encouraging the Young to Leave Home” attracted a number of young people. His vast oeuvre of theatrical works include “Knock”, “La Mari-Vison”, and “Lessons to Servants”. Some of his more well-known film works are: “Throw Away Your Books, Rally in the Streets”, and “Emperor Tomato Ketchup”. He was also a horseracing and boxing commentator.

When asked his main occupation, his typical response was to say, “My job is Shuji Terayama.”

He first visited America in 1968, where he met such leaders of the underground theatre scene as Ellen Stewart (La Mama E.T.C.) and Julian Beck (The Living Theatre).  In 1980, he put on Directions to Servants at La MaMa (Show Ryuzanji also participated in this tour). When he died at the age of 47, on May 5, 1983, his obituary was published in the New York Times, and Ellen Stewart held a memorial service at La Mama.

about: RYUZANJI COMPANY
 

 
   REVIEW   
 

“Spectacular!” “Dazzling clash of East and West” “Outlandish” “Hilarious” “Triumphant”
★★★★★
Edinburgh Fringe
 

 
 


 

 

 

Performed with full-tilt commitment and unusual discipline… rowdy, propulsive energy that almost never flags.” New York Times  / “It's Cirque Surreal!!” Plank Magazine   / “If this is hell, sign me up. Heck, I'll even become fluent in Japanese.” nytheatre.com  / “You might ponder the point at first, but stick with the show: A piercing revelation at the climax will haunt you on your way out.”  Time Out New York  / “Thus far, Hanafuda Denki blew my mind on the levels of creativity, theatricality, humour, talent and pure delight.” CiTR Radio

 

 

 

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RYUZANJI COMPANY, Tokyo, Japan
流山児★事務所(りゅうざんじ じむしょ)
http://www.ryuzanji.com

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This production is a part of SubletSeries@HERE, HERE’s curated rental program, which provides artists with subsidized space and equipment, as well as technical support.