Kinoshita Kabuki’s Kanjincho © Photo by Shinji Hosono
(Presented by Tokyo Metropolitan Theatre/Tokyo Festival 2023)
A group of refugees fleeing to safety. An uncompromising inspector whose life depends on apprehending the fugitive among the group. Can they cross the border? Recognized as a masterpiece of kabuki theater, Kanjincho draws its tale from the 12th century, featuring deception, quick wit, and a riotous and nail-biting tit-for-tat with impossibly high stakes as its centerpiece. Kinoshita Kabuki gleefully charges across the boundary between bombastic traditional kabuki drama and contemporary theater in a hip and pop culture-drenched take on this surprisingly evergreen tale about transcending borders. Created by brilliant young dramaturg Yuichi Kinoshita with in-demand guest director Kunio Sugihara, experience the international sensation that has cemented Kinoshita Kabuki’s place in the current pantheon of sterling modern theater companies.
Performed in Japanese with English supertitles. Performance runs approximately 80 minutes
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Artists and Creative Team
Kinoshita Kabuki, a contemporary theater company based in Kyoto, Japan, was founded in 2006 by Yuichi Kinoshita. Inspired by Kinoshita’s own passion for classical Kabuki, Kinoshita Kabuki endeavors to reawaken interest in this traditional art among modern audiences. With this aim in mind, Kinoshita set out to stage kabuki works in unconventional ways, adapting scripts with sharp colloquial language, incorporating pop culture and utilizing classic themes to grapple with current societal issues, all while remaining deeply grounded in the original work. In order to approach kabuki from a variety of perspectives, each piece presented by Kinoshita Kabuki features a new cast and an external director. After receiving accolades throughout Europe and East Asia, this production marks Kinoshita Kabuki’s North American debut. Performers: Lee the 5th, Ryotaro Sakaguchi, Noemi Takayama, Yasuhiro Okano, Kazunori Kameshima, Hiroshi Shigeoka, Yuya Ogaki
Yuichi Kinoshita (creator and dramaturg) is founder, supervisor and dramaturge of the Kyoto-based company Kinoshita Kabuki. Kinoshita was born in 1985 in Wakayama Prefecture, Japan. When he was in elementary school, he was shocked by the brilliance of kamigata rakugo (a form of traditional Japanese comedy in the Kansai dialect) performance and began practicing rakugo on his own. Subsequently, Kinoshita went on to expand his interests in traditional performing arts as well as simultaneously learning contemporary performing arts. In 2006, Kinoshita founded the theater company Kinoshita Kabuki, in which he oversees dramaturgy on productions of classic theater pieces. Signature productions include Musume Dojoji, Kurozuka, Tokaido Yotsuya Kaidan (The Full Performance), The Love Suicides at Amijima, Yoshitsune Senbon-zakura (Tokaiya/Daimotsunoura), and Sesshu Gappou ga Tsuji – Itoi Version – . In 2015, the company’s revival of Sannin Kichisa Kuruwa no Hatsugai was nominated for the Yomiuri Theatre Awards' Best Production of the First Half of 2015, and for his work on Kanjincho, presented in 2016, Kinoshita received the Agency for Cultural Affairs Arts Festival New Artist Award for fiscal year 2016. He also received the 38th Kyoto Prefecture Cultural Award Encouragement Prize in 2019. Outside of his own company, he is active in a wide range of activities related to traditional performing arts, including serving as a dramaturg for the Shibuya Cocoon Kabuki production of Kirare no Yosa (2018), as well as writing and giving lectures. He was a recipient of the 2017 Arts and Culture Special Encouragement Program award. Since 2024, Kinoshita has served as the leading Artistic Director of Matsumoto Performing Arts Centre. https://kinoshita-kabuki.org/
Kunio Sugihara (director and stage designer) is a director, stage designer, and founder of the company KUNIO. Born in 1982, Sugihara graduated from the Department of Film and Performing Arts at Kyoto University of Art and Design with a Masters in Art Design. In 2004, he founded the theater production company KUNIO as a platform to direct various works. Notable works produced by the company include KUNIO15 The Greeks (2019), edited and translated by John Barton and Kenneth Cavander, KUNIO11 Hamlet (2014), written by William Shakespeare, KUNIO09 Angels in America - Part 1: Millennium Approaches, Part 2: Perestroika- (2011), written by Tony Kushner, KUNIO14 Mizu no Eki (2019), and KUNIO10 Sarachi (2012 and 2021), where he vividly revived the masterpiece by Shogo Ota, who was Sugihara’s mentor from the university. With Kinoshita Kabuki, he has directed ten productions, including Sannin Kichisa Kuruwa no Hatsugai, which was nominated for the Yomiuri Drama Award, Kurozuka and Tokaido Yotsuya Kaidan (The Full Performance). His previous directorial works span a wide range of genres, from kabuki theater and Greek tragedy to contemporary theater, including Shin Suikoden (2023), written by Kensuke Yokouchi, presented at the Kabuki-za Theatre, Pandra’s Bell (2022), written by Hideki Noda and Blood Wedding (2022), written by Federico García Lorca. Recently, he has expanded his directing activities into other genres, such the Sanrio Puroland’s 35th Anniversary "The Quest of Wonders Parade" and Donizetti's opera, L'elisir d'amore. https://kunio.me
The U.S. tour of Kinoshita Kabuki’s Kanjincho is produced by Japan Society. The program is supported by the Agency for Cultural Affairs, Government of Japan, Japan Arts Council and subsidized by JLOX+, with funding from The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry of Japan.
