“In our distance, there is no sorrow.”
Written and Directed by Yukio Shiba
October 7th — October 15th
VenuesTokyo Metropolitan Theatre
(Theatre East & Theatre West)
Dates10/7 (Sat) 19:30
10/8 (Sun) 19:30
10/9 (Mon) 14:00 / 18:00
10/11 (Wed) 19:30
10/12 (Thu) 19:30
10/13 (Fri) 19:30
10/14 (Sat) 14:00* / 18:00
10/15 (Sun) 14:00

No performance: 10/10 (Tue)

*Post-show cafe event

Box office opens 1 hour before. Doors open 30 minutes before.
Running Time80 min. (TBC)
LanguagePerformed in Japanese with English surtitles
TicketsUnreserved seating
Advance: ¥4,000 / Same Day: ¥4,500 / Students: ¥2,600 / Other tickets available
Early Bird Discount¥2,800
Festival Pass (5 Performances)¥3,200
Festival Pass (3 Performances)¥3,400
Students
Student ID required
¥2,600
High School Students and Under
Student ID or proof of age required
¥1,000
Alternate Versions Joint Ticket
¥7,000

Alternate Versions Joint Ticket
See both versions of “I am not sad because you are far away” in the two venues. The tickets can be used by two people, who each see one of the versions of the play performed at the same time. Alternately, one person can use the joint ticket to see both versions on different dates. Only available from the F/T Ticket Center.
Photo: Hideaki Hamada / Photo: Ivy Chen

A story told simultaneously in two places about what is near yet far away

The playwright and director Yukio Shiba has established a strong reputation for highly individual yet universal theatrical portrayals of humanity. His award-winning musical play “Our Planet” was the allegorical tale of both a planet and a girl. Making his debut at Festival/Tokyo, this premiere is a meditation on the theme of distance and the Great East Japan Earthquake, which Shiba was far away from when it occurred.


Two plays unfold simultaneously across two adjacent theatre spaces, serving as a metaphor for the distance that causes the mental divides and various boundaries separating us. The audiences in each theatre will experience fragments of plays based on songs written by the Taiwanese musician Blaire KO. As they watch, the audiences’ imaginations are drawn to the other story happening nearby and how the two plays form a single overall narrative.


A co-production between F/T and Taipei Performing Arts Center (scheduled to open in 2019), the play will be performed at Taipei Arts Festival in 2018. From staging a play on a ship to taking up residence on an island to create new work, Shiba is known for inventively exploring the relationship between theatre, audience and lifestyle. Now he will reveal our futures in the gap between two spaces that are so near yet so far at the same time. For his new work, Shiba has turned to a wide range of Taiwanese collaborators. The costumes have been created by a local fashion brand, TRAN, while the musician Blaire KO composed the tracks from which Shiba structured and wrote the play script.

Photos

    “In our distance, there is no sorrow.” (Theatre West)
    Photos: Hideaki Hamada


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    “In our distance, there is no sorrow.” (Theatre East)
    Photos: Hideaki Hamada


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Previous Productions

    mamagoto “Our Planet” (Shodo Island performances)

    Photos: Hideaki Hamada


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Artist Profile

Yukio Shiba

Playwright, Director (mamagoto)

Born in Aichi in 1982, Yukio Shiba is a member of the directing department of Seinendan and a resident artist at Steep Slope Studio. He also teaches at Tama Art University and Shikoku Gakuin University. In 2010, he won the 54th Kishida Kunio Drama Award for “Our Planet.” His work has been performed all over Japan at such festivals as the Aichi Triennale and Setouchi Triennale. “Our Planet” is revived in August 2017 with a cast of high school students. He publishes his scripts for free on the website of his company, mamagoto. http://www.mamagoto.org/

Cast & Creative

Performers:Masahiro Oishi (mamagoto, NYLON100C), Tomoyo Okada, Kaoruko Oyama, Kazuki Kushio (Seinendan), Seiya Suzuki, Mayumi Tsubaki (Seinenza), Kinuyo Nogami (FAIFAI, march project), Niina Hashida (mamagoto, Seinendan), Riko Fujitani, Hikaru Morioka (Fushigishonen)
  
Written and Directed byYukio Shiba (mamagoto)
Assistant Director:Maki Kimata
Stage Managers:Tsubasa Yamashita, Junichi Takahashi
Stage Design:Takuya Aoki
Stage Design Assistant:Kenji Hamasaki
Music:Blaire KO
Sound:Daisuke Hoshino (Sound Weeds Inc.)
Sound Operator:Mizuho Sorimachi (Sugar Sound)
Lighting:Ryoya Fudetani
Lighting Operator:Megumi Shimoda, Shoko Mishima
Video:Mamoru Kano (WOW / Futurismo Zugakousaku), Hironobu Sone (Tohoku Institute of Technology), Takuya Inagaki (WOW), Yuki Saito (WOW)
Video Technician:Takaki Sudo
Costumes:TRAN
Costume Coordinator:Keith Lin
Entrance Design:Ryoko Ando (DESIGN MUSICA)
Publicity Design:Ivy Chen, Hideaki Hamada
Publicity Hair & Makeup:Asumi Washizuka
Publicity Design:Yuma Harada (UMA / design farm)
Documentation:Kuan-Yu Chen
Surtitles:Christopher Gregory
Surtitles Supervisor:Hachiya Mizutani
Production Website Editor:Makiko Ochi (LittleSophy)
Publicity supported byPola Museum of Art
Special cooperation fromSteep Slope Studio
In cooperation withOPOSS INC., letre, Seinenza Film Production, Seinendan, NYLON100C, Switch Research Institute, FAIFAI, Fushigishonen, march project
Production Coordinators:Mayuko Arakawa (Festival/Tokyo), Nakaba Kato (mamagoto)
Production Managers:Chika Kawai (Festival/Tokyo), Takuo Miyanaga (mamagoto, ZuQnZ)
Taiwan Coordinator:Yukio Nitta
Interns:Sara Gunnare, Haruna Kobayashi, Misaki Hayashi, Mai Yamamoto
Front of House:Urara Tsukuni
Presented byFestival/Tokyo, mamagoto
Supported byThe Saison Foundation
  
Co-produced byFestival/Tokyo, Taipei Performing Arts Center
Supported bythe Ministry of Culture (Taiwan) 
In cooperation withDepartment of Cultural Affairs, Taipei City Government; Taipei Culture Foundation; Taiwan Cultural Center, Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in Japan
Research and workshop supported byPerforming Arts Alliance, CO3, Tainan City Government