Citizens of Seoul The Scientific Minded Southward Confession of a Feeble Mind Travel on Train From S plateau My Days of Mah-jong Isn't Life More than Goodbyes? Run in Your Sleep Northernmost Monkeys

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Citizens of Seoul




Seoul Shimin

1989
1 hr. 30 min.

18 characters
(7 male / 11 female)

Synopsis

Seoul, 1909, one year before Japan's complete colonization of Korea. This piece depicts one afternoon in the living room of a Japanese family who own a stationery store. Various people pass by and have innocent conversations, revealing the subconscious discrimination and sense of superiority of people living in a colony.

First presented in 1989, this piece is one of the most representative works of Seinendan and has been repeatedly presented, including the production in Seoul and Pusan, Korea, in 1993. The title "Seoul Shimin" is taken from James Joyce's "Dubliners" whose title in Japanese is "Dublin Shimin."

Translations

English translation by John D. Swain
in "Half a Century of Japanese Theater 1990s Part1"
Published by Kinokuniya, 1999, 5,000 yen
ISBN: 4-314-10135-0
French translation by Rose-Marie Makino-Fayolle
Published by Les Solitaires Intempestifs (France), 2000, 63FF
ISBN:2-912464-58-7
Korean translation by Seinendan, 1993, 1,200 yen
Korean translation
Planned to be published in the near future.
Russian translation
in " " Vol. 1
ISBN:5-89163-021-4


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The Scientific Minded




Kagakusuru Kokoro

1990
1 hr. 25 min.

16 characters
(7 male / 9 female)

Synopsis

A project to evolve apes into humans is underway in a state-of-the-art biology lab. In the adjacent students' hangout, where this play is set, nonsensical conversations take place. Through them, this piece talks about issues such as bioethics and evolution.

Engaged in the state-of-the-art study of evolution, the group of scientists shown here are worried about ordinary private matters like love affairs and their future careers. This commemorative first piece of Oriza Hirata's Science Series, followed by "The Northernmost Monkeys" and "The Balkan Zoo," depicts the young generation of Japan today. It has been repeatedly performed by various groups, including the college drama major students.

Translations



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Southward




Minami e

1990
1 hr. 30 min.

19 characters
(7 male / 12 female)

Synopsis

The playwright got the idea of this play from Federico Fellini's film "E la nave va (And the Ship Sails On)." The time is mid-21st century. Corrupt, wealthy Japanese are running away in a luxurious passenger boat from Japan, now overcrowded with immigrants, to a southern island.

This piece leisurely depicts these Japanese who belong to nowhere, spending time wearily and decadently on the deck. Discovery of a stowaway from the bottom of the ship creates a little stir in the boring life on board.

Translations



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Confession of a Feeble Mind




Angu Shoden

1991
1 hr. 30 min.

12 characters
(6 male / 6 female)

Synopsis

The lives of Kotaro Takamura, a renowned modern Japanese poet, and his wife Chieko are related in this piece. Through Kotaro's wavering between the modern West and traditional Japan, it sharply points out issues such as the contradictions in the modernization of Japan and the pro-war commitments of literary persons.

Chieko becomes mentally ill and eventually dies. Kotaro, missing his beloved wife, devotes himself to ultranationalism. By depicting Kotaro, Chieko, and the common people around them, this piece delineates clearly the history of the modernization of Japan. A totally new type of historical drama.

Translations



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Travel on Train




Aho Ressha

1991
1 hr.

3 characters
(1 male / 2 female)

Synopsis

Based on Hyakken Uchida's noted essay "Ahoressha," this piece portrays an old couple on a journey and a young girl who happens to accompany them on the train. The conversation of this odd party goes on and on.

The humorous conversation of the three, who seem to have no particular destinations, somewhat reminds one of "Waiting for Godot" or a high-quality road movie.

Translations



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From S Plateau




S Kogen Kara

1991
1 hr. 30 min.

17 characters
(8 male / 9 female)

Synopsis

The boring everyday life of some long-term patients in a sanatorium on a plateau is portrayed. These patients are being treated for an incurable disease whose name is not even known, but they are curiously light-hearted, enjoying their lives. Their friends and families come and visit them from "down below." Everyone eventually realizes that the gap between the life up here and that down there in the real world has become impassably big.

With Thomas Mann's "The Magic Mountain" as the motif, this one-and-half-hour play renders the essence of the endless tedium in a sanatorium in the mountains.

Translations

French translation by Rose-Marie Makino-Fayolle
To be published from Les Solitaires Intempestifs (France) in the near future.
Korean translation by KIM Eungsoo
To be published in the near future.
English translation
 
DVD with English subtitles


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My Days of Mah-jong




Mah-jong Horoki

1992
1 hr. 20 min.

7 characters
(5 male / 2 female)

Synopsis

The men depicted in this quick-paced piece are so absorbed in gambling that they don't think it's crazy to stake their houses and wives. Most conversations in this play take place around the mah-jong table.

A bunco artist installs an electronic device to a computer-operated automatic mah-jong table to cheat. This ultimate device is so cleverly-programmed that it's impossible to tell if it's working or if you are winning on your own.

Translations



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Isn't Life More than Goodbyes?




Sayonara dakega Jinsei ka

1992
1 hr. 30 min.

18 characters
(8 male / 10 female)

Synopsis

This piece takes place in a workers' anteroom by a construction site. The rainy weather has long hindered their work, and what's more, ancient ruins have been found at the site and now they have no idea when they'll be able to resume work. Depicting the tedious everyday life of the construction workers and the various "goodbye" scenes in life, this is the most rambling absurd drama in the world.

Translations

French translation


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Run in Your Sleep




Hashirinagara Nemure

1992
1 hr.

2 characters
(1 male / 1 female)

Synopsis

This piece portrays anarchists Sakae Osugi and Noe Ito, his wife, depicting several moments in the six-month period immediately before they get mercilessly killed by the authorities right after the Great Kanto Earthquake in 1923.

Osugi returns from Europe and quietly whiles away the time with his wife. They vaguely anticipate their own catastrophe and death but devote themselves to the translation of Fabre's Souvenirs entomologiques.

Translations



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Northernmost Monkeys




Hokugen no Saru

1992
1 hr. 25 min.

15 characters
(6 male / 9 female)

Synopsis

This sequel to "The Scientific Minded" in the Science Series depicts the members of the same biology lab 10 years after "The Scientific Minded." Their project to evolve apes into humans has shown much progress, but the scientists themselves are still the same, troubled by trifling private problems of everyday life.

This is a play that incorporates many of the findings of Japan's much-vaunted primate research, casting the question: "What is human?"

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