Today (Thursday 30 March), Executive Producer Joe Hisaishi and the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC), in collaboration with Improbable and Nippon TV, announce that the record-breaking production of Studio Ghibli’s My Neighbour Totoro will return to the Barbican Theatre for a strictly limited run in Autumn 2023.
The American Playwrighting Foundation’s The Relentless Award, formed in tribute to the late and great actor – Philip Seymour Hoffman’s pursuit of truth within theatre seeks to find powerful new voices that ‘are challenging’, ‘exhibit fearlessness’, ‘are not mainstream’, ‘exude passion’ and that ‘are relentlessly truthful’. 2016 semi-finalist, Dipika Guha’s The Art of Gaman – a production exploring displacement after the devastation of the Hiroshima bombing during the final stage of WWII follows the lead, Tomomi, as she navigates a new life post conflict. Receiving its UK debut at Theatre503, Dipika tells us more about what to expect from the show.
Yellow Earth are a theatre company renowned for their championing of diverse voices from the East Asian community. In their 22nd year, they continue to blaze the trail, broadening the range of characters represented on stage. Having worked with original Yellow Earth founding member Kumiko Mendl to develop her piece, ‘Zen’, Joyce Lee discusses how she’s crafted the show, the importance of speaking out about mental health and whether there are enough strong female protagonists represented on stage…
Founded in 2007, Theatre Témoin have created stand out pieces designed to address topics and ideas that may not have much of a spotlight placed on them. Physical Theatre fused with a powerful narrative leaves you with a theatrical experience not to be forgotten. Theatre Temoin’s Artistic Director Ailin Conant is renowned for her social engagement in terms of the projects she works on, working with voices that are often marginalised or forgotten about and it’s clear that this is an element that defines the company’s vision. Ahead of Theatre Témoin’s run at this year’s Edinburgh Fringe Festival of their latest piece The Marked, Ailin spoke to us about the creation of the piece, her inspirations and who she’ll be watching at this year’s festival. Continue reading