Q / Satoko Ichihara "Yoroboshi: The Weakling"

The legend of Shuntokumaru, an ancient tale in Japan, has been a source of inspiration for the Japanese literary imagination, as seen in works of Noh, Bunraku, Kabuki, as well as novels.

Playwright and director Satoko Ichihara creates a new puppet show that incorporates the form of traditional Japanese Bunraku while reinterpreting the narrative’s structure and tragedy in a contemporary way. She fundamentally reinterprets the tragic motifs of the original story, including child abandonment, discrimination against the ill, parent-child strife, and redemption through a queer lens, leading audience members to a truer state beyond good and evil. The dolls, which include sex dolls and mannequins, come to life through the hands of the puppeteers and perform the tragedy as human proxies, taking on their karma, desires, and violence.

The narrator Gidayu is played by Sachiko Hara, who works in Germany and is an ensemble member at Deutsches SchauSpielHaus Hamburg. The music is composed by experimental musician Kakushin Nishihara, a satsuma-biwa player who creates avant-garde sounds that incorporate elements of noise and electronic music. Serving as mediums between distinct worlds as their voices drive the story forward, the two are sure to profoundly move the souls of the audience.

After its world premiere at Theater der Welt 2023 and its Japan premiere at The Museum of art, Kochi and Toyooka Theater Festival, the piece will have its Tokyo premiere at Theater Commons Tokyo.