Imagination propelling you to a new time and place

Ishinha create uniquely theatrical experiences. Out of their series “A Journey with Him: A Twentieth Century Trilogy” has come “nostalgia” (2007), set in South America, and “Kokyukikai” [Respirator] (2008), set in Eastern Europe. The latter won director Yukichi Matsumoto the Eighth Asahi Performing Arts Artist Award and was performed on the beaches of Lake Biwa, the watery landscape transformed by the production’s extraordinary design, music and dance, and the sound of its Balinese Kecak-style Osaka dialect.

Ten years in the making, now Festival/Tokyo collaborates with Ishinha to present “Rojishiki”, the prologue to the third part of the trilogy – Asia. Roji means a narrow alley between houses. It is a space ambiguously between the public and private, an absurd labyrinth that is both everyday and ordinary, but also a place where you can at times peek into the strange and unusual. Ishinha have for years been looking at these kinds of roji spaces and now turn their attention to the Nishi-Sugamo Arts Factory, a converted old junior high school, a “Tokyo air pocket”. What will they create out of this roji? Ishinha’s first Tokyo performance in six years and the prologue to the conclusion of their acclaimed trilogy, this premiere is not to be missed.

Schoolyard food stalls market

For this Tokyo performance Ishinha will be brining their famous yataimura (food stalls market) to the Nishi-Sugamo Arts Factory schoolyard. Ishinha’s team of vendors will be working alongside local shops to invite visitors to a new world in the theater and school grounds.