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Following "Hysteria" in 07 and "Jack and His Master" in February this year, this is the third work by Kazumi Kushida and Akira Shirai.The two, who are also active as directors and actors, present "Henry IV" based on the novel by Italian Nobel Prize-winning author Luigi Pirandello.An Italian aristocrat falls from his horse and believes himself to be Emperor Henry IV of medieval Germany. Twenty years have passed, and the man's former lover and a doctor try to bring him back to his senses...

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I received a message from the director Akira Shirai.

This project with Kazumi Kushida will be held for the third time this year.
2007's "Hysteria", 2008's "Jack and His Master", and this year, "Pirandello's Henry IV".I will be directing this time while changing the direction every year.
Both are directors and actors.I have promised that when I direct, I will also appear as an actor.This is because we both presided over a theater company in the past and have come from the same position, so we can understand each other.
Mr. and I met almost 20 years ago.The first time was when Mr. Kushida, who was the artistic director of "Theater Cocoon" in Shibuya, invited me to do something together.However, at that time, both of us had the schedules of the theatrical company.The talk was lost because the schedule did not match well.
Then, in 2006, I received an offer to direct a production starring Mr. Kushida, so I decided to continue for at least three years instead of finishing it just once, so this "Kushida x Shirai" project began. .

For me, Mr. Kazumi Kushida, who presides over On Theater Jiyu Gekijyo, and people of my generation were the ones who gave me the opportunity to enter the world of theater. Mr. Makoto Sato of "Black Tent", Mr. Juro Kara of "Situation Theater", Mr. Tadashi Suzuki of "Waseda Shogekijo", Mr. Shuji Terayama of "Tenjo Sajiki", and Mr. Shogo Ota of "Transformation Theater".I was stunned by the theatrical works that broke away from the established framework of theater and jumped out of the theater, such as small theaters, tents, and ruins, and I became captivated by theater.
In the more than 30 years that have passed since then, our generation of theater people, who inherited that generation, has certainly made theater more popular and won a large audience.The number of theaters has increased, the opportunities to see theater have increased, and theater has come to be put on the commercial line.That might be something to be happy about.
However, it seems that somehow we have lost sight of the artistry of condensing the world we live in and reexamining ourselves living in it, as well as the power of theater as a mirror that reflects the times.
So, I decided to think about the meaning of this project by daring to advocate a slightly higher-level theme of "rebirth of contemporary theater."

Now, let's talk about Pirandello's Henry IV. Enrico IV, written by Italian Nobel Prize-winning author Luigi Pirandello in 1922, was adapted by British theater up-and-coming Tom Stoppard ("Fell in Love"). (Famous for the screenplay of "Shakespeare") has newly translated into English and put together a compact play.
The story of a man who falls off his horse at a costume party and goes mad, and for the next XNUMX years lives in that costume thinking he is Henry IV.A former lover and friends appear there, and reality and fiction begin to get mixed up.
So, it is a modern drama that has nothing to do with Shakespeare's historical drama "Henry IV".

Originally, I was very interested in the metatheatrical world of Pirandello's works, such as Six Characters in Search of an Author.It is a theater that has a double structure in which another drama world is embedded within the drama world.
In this work, the world that the insane Henry IV imagines is a fiction, and the world of former lovers and friends who appear there is represented as reality.However, which one is insane and which one is sane?Which is fictional and which is real?That's what really hits us.
“People see the world as they see fit.”
It is a big idea that Pirandello always puts in his work.People always see the world in such a way that what they see is real and what others see is virtual.Is there such a thing as truth?Such thoughts emerge from this work.

Actors I admire and respect, such as Mr. Tetsuya Chiba and Ms. Natsuko Akiyama, participated in this work.I hope that by creating this world created with Mr. Kushida with more reliable actors, a larger world will be born.
Written 87 years ago, this play still shines through today.
In a swirl of information, we try to select and touch only the information we want to see.And inevitably, I'm getting more and more stuck in my own world.It would not be an exaggeration to say that this is madness from the perspective of others, and it may be said that each of us is becoming more "Henry IV".

I am immersed in such thoughts every day when facing this work.
By all means, I hope that you will share this world that is mixed with reality.
July 2009
　Akira Shirai

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theater tourHolding information
"Setagaya Public Theater Performance Lecture 2009 Feb-Mar" Information

[Written by] Luigi Pirandello
[Director/Performer] Akira Shirai

[Cast] Kazumi Kushida/Natsuko Akiyama/Tetsuya Chiba/Hitomi Hasebe/Yuho Nakayama/Akiyoshi Sakurai/Takayuki Sanda/Yohei Obayashi/Taku Sato/Rokunosuke Ikeda

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