"Theater Commons '22" opens online with various parts of Tokyo.The fastest review of works by Satoko Ichihara and overseas writers

Online as a common land

On February 19, "Theater Commons '22" opened. Under the curation of Chiaki Soma, the project, which selects domestic and foreign theater, performance art, and contemporary art works, has the theme of "utilizing the" shared knowledge "of theater to create a" common land "of society." This year marks the sixth year.

The global pandemic from the end of 2019 has greatly influenced "Theater Commons", and from last year we started a hybrid multi-dimensional event of online and venue. The same program was held again this year.

However, when thinking about what the "commons" should be today, the experience of gathering in virtual space via Zoom and SNS has become familiar to people's lives. Even though the Metaverse initiative that Meta (formerly Facebook) Mark Zuckerberg and others are trying to push forward is still looking a little further into the future, events in the world of the game community such as "Fort Knight" and "Apex Legends" And the timeline are influencing the real lifestyle. In other words, the coordinates pointed to by the "common land" are definitely changing. In that respect as well, it seems that this "Theater Commons" has a critique of the same era.

Dream Care and Incubation Bohart / van der Schoot "The Journey That Doesn't Move"

Symbolic is the online holding of the opening work, Bohart / van der Schoot's "The Journey That Doesn't Move".

Usually, when it comes to the opening of a festival, works that embody the concept of the entire festival while enlivening the festive mood are selected, but YouTube is the official "theater" of "The Journey That Doesn't Move", and , The audience can be anywhere the internet is connected. Vertical screen = Recommended for viewing on smartphones and tablets also emphasizes non-location. By the way, I lay down on the bed in his room and watched while stretching, but there are many people who participated in such a loose manner.

The content of the work has also changed. The film, which states "healing by sleep and dreaming," begins with guidance reminiscent of a workshop on mindfulness and self-development seminars. Headphones are recommended, and weak sine waves of different wavelengths flow from the left and right, instructing you to take a relaxed and relaxed posture. Waves, vibrations, left and right brain entrainment effects (hemisink), imagination for traveling to different areas, dream incubation ... The first impression I can make is that I participated in something outrageous.

In the second half, we'll introduce a group of women aged 13 to 18 called the "Reality Shift Community" on TikTok. They each create a meditative state of mind and shift from reality to a virtual world of their imagination / creation (some of whom are fierce men trying to reach the world of Harry Potter). It is said that it was a group that was connected online, especially after the Korona-ka. In addition, Amaterasu Omikami of Japan and Raicho Hiratsuka's "Originally, the woman was the sun" passage was introduced, and I felt more and more "???".

To somewhere other than here beyond the Korona-ka

It's a work that seems to be sprinkled with the youth's sympathy, straightforwardness, and some conspiracy-theoretic flavors, but now that the pandemic has caused most of humanity to stay inside the house and not be able to go out, "here. I can sympathize with the movement of my heart that I want to go to "somewhere else" and want to put it into practice. Also, the experience of knowing that it is secretly progressing in a community of teenage women only, which is not normally known, and for many people in "other time and place", is simply "in the world". There is something I don't know. "

"The Journey That Doesn't Move" was produced by an artist unit by Susan Bohart and van der Schoot, who studied Pantomime at the University of the Arts Amsterdam. In learning Mime, they have considered the importance of preparing a neutral physical condition before the performance begins and a situation that "waits" for something to begin. As a result, it expanded into some sort of theatrical theory, with an emphasis on designing situations for the audience to meet the work. "Fremdkörper" (2021), which was also released during the pandemic, is said to have been a work that the audience experienced while lying on the bed.

This "Unmoving Journey" is Bohart / van der Schoot's first completely digital-only work and is in the experimental stage. According to Chiaki Soma and Kyoko Iwaki, who was in charge of Dramaturge, we are planning further development from here.

Satoko Ichihara (Q) "Fairy Problem Deluxe"

"Theater Commons '22" started online, but there are some works that can only be seen if you go to the theater realistically. One of them is Satoko Ichihara (Q)'s "Fairy Problem Deluxe". This is a revised and expanded version of "Fairy Problem" that premiered in 2017. The performing arts that surround the audience seats reminiscent of a theater by dot architects, and the band performance by Taishi Kaeda, who presides over Nutomic and Tokyo Shiokoji, Make your work even more gorgeous and deluxe. Also, unlike the premiere version, which was basically a monologue-type storytelling drama by an actor alone, the core skeleton has changed significantly, such as changing the format of the first part from rakugo to comic storytelling.

The work has become more entertaining as a whole, but it is a hardcore story that depicts the murder of the world of the Neo-River principle, which was inspired by the murder of a facility for the disabled in Sagamihara in 2016 and that "what is wrong with the strong people becoming happy". The posture has not changed. In the first part, "Heidi Nina," a high school student who admits to being ugly, "becomes a staff member of an elderly care facility in the mountains and works while feeling superiority to the elderly," and "standardized beauty." A society that is losing its economic power and cultural leeway, while resonating with the far-right politicians who insist that everyone should die, with or without the ability, except for ordinary beautiful men and women who fit the scale of The true intention (?) Without a body or a lid is struck. The appeal of Ichihara's work is that it attacks the audience's "I can or cannot sympathize".

However, it is even more wonderful to reverse the conflicts and contradictions with a fastball. He defines sexual desires and the biological reactions associated with them as a good that "everyone who lives" can share, and affirms that both geniuses and ugly people can live. Of course, the theory is messed up, but the work seems to argue that the end of the chaos and mayhem is the affirmation of the self and the world for the time being.

This work was performed in Tokyo after its premiere at ROHM Theater Kyoto, but due to the small size of the venue, it gave the impression that it was more condensed than the Kyoto performance. Given that the highly confusing logic underpins the groove and sprinting feeling of Ichihara's play, concentration should be emphasized rather than distraction in order not to let the audience lose their concentration. There is room for consideration in music and art that have the impression of being too communal.

A foreign world peeking through digital technology Shu Tuyu "He / this is / this"

Next up is Shu Thu Yu's screening program, "He / This / This", which can be seen both online and at the venue. In the special screening of video works by a Taiwanese artist, three that utilize 3D scanners and AR technology have been selected.

All the works are interesting, but the "single copy" (2019) with the motif of a man born and raised as a conjoined twin is brilliant. In the work, the brothers born by sharing the lower limbs recognize each other's right foot / left foot, and the vague "third foot" owned by themselves and others is talked about. After undergoing separation surgery, the brothers have different lives, and the twin brother died in 2019 at the age of 42, but in a sense the identity of his brother who seems to have been left behind in this world. The view of family was fresh to me. Such a series of narratives unfolds with the body and the family of the younger brother converted into data by 3D scanning, and the weight of reality (I would like to call it "resolution" in terms of experience) peels off while watching. It is a work that brings a mysterious feeling of intoxication.

A remote writer lecture is scheduled for 27th of this month, so be sure to check it out.

From synchronous to asynchronous

The concept of this year's "Theater Commons" was "asynchronous words." In Soma's statement, "asynchronous" means forced synchronization politics in the world since the pandemic, especially since the start of vaccination ... GPS information and health status must be reported one by one in order to gain freedom of movement. It seems to be defined as a concept to resist a controlled society.

However, from the work I watched, I felt asynchrony as a sign of traveling to a new place other than here, rather than resistance. "The Journey That Doesn't Move", "The Fairy Problem Deluxe", and Shu Tuyu's video works all have some sort of wickedness that repels existing ethics and norms. But what makes it even more evil is that I'm internalizing the synchrony of this world, and the shifter community on TikTok to another world is also trying to deal with candidiasis. The folk remedies for applying yogurt to the genitals (which must be unknown to most men) and the 3D datad world projections, apart from their pros and cons, are already "existing". And, first of all, when we admit that there is, this world that is too synchronized can lead to that world that is not yet synchronized.

It reminds me of the words Bohart / van der Schoot said in the opening talk, "Neither a black box nor a white cube. We are looking for a gray space that is neither white nor black." The values ​​divided by the white or black dichotomy are often understood as conflicts and conflicts, but they are both too synchronized with this world in that they are known. Perhaps the important thing is to look for yet another value / option. And it must be different from making tea muddy with the inflexible and inflexible things such as "Have a clear muddy water ...".

The stories I've talked about so far may sound a bit outlandish, but there are a variety of non-heterogeneous values ​​that shake the politics, economy, and arts and culture that still have the canonical principles of heteromass. Looking at today's societies being presented in, the significance of asynchrony of individuals and groups, where not everything is unilaterally synchronized, is clear, and they are easily embraced in their usefulness and usefulness in society.・ There is a punk that is not reduced in these works.

Based on these, Kyun-Chome's "Women's Apocalypse", which you receive and experience as a gift from the artist, has the impression that you are overly softened by the type of easy-to-understand emo and correctness that you are familiar with today. Also, although the appearance of Monila Arkadiri & Raed Yashin's "Hanging Madness" has a big impact, I was worried about the mediocre conversations and the crampedness of trying to grasp the world with words.

"Theater Commons '22" will continue until the 27th of this month. There are many things that have already been sold out at the actual venue, but it is still possible to watch with a remote pass. In principle, video distribution will continue until 23:59 on March 31st. Taking advantage of the times when you can choose any place, it is a "commons" that you want to access not only from the Tokyo area but also from rural areas and overseas.