Synopses 04

Across the River in May The Yalta Conference The Journal of POWs No More Winds Blow Conference before the Throne Sand and Soldiers

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Across the River in May

Sono Kawao Koete, Gogatsu

2002
2 hr. 30 min.

11 characters
(6 male / 5 female)

Synopsis

The time is spring, 2002. The place is the bank of the Han River where the people in Seoul like to gather. The Japanese students of a Korean language school, their Korean teacher and his family get together for cherry blossom viewing. In this epical piece, through their subtle exchanges, we see the past, present and future of the troubles and mutual understanding of the two countries.

We see the people desperately trying to communicate when language fails. We see the historical relationship of the two countries, family ties, the issue of Korean nationals born and raised in Japan Japanese Koreans and international marriages. We see the communication and empathy in spite of differences in conventions, ethnicities and the expectations of the native countries.

By capturing a moment on the river and delineating conversations laden with encounter and parting, the fragments of the present Japanese-Korean situation are quietly revealed. This piece became the first production in the history of Japanese-Korean cultural exchange to win theatrical awards both in Japan and in Korea.

Translations

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The Yalta Conference Yalta Kaidan 2002 30 min. 3 characters (3 male / 0 female)	Synopsis Hirata first wrote this piece as a rakugo, a traditional Japanese stand-up comedy, and then revised it as a three-person theater piece. Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin gather at Yalta to discuss the postwar world, each with his own thoughts and plots in his mind. The world's postwar history of the past 50 years is fully and skillfully depicted in this 30-minute play.
	Translations English translation

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The Journal of POWs

Nantou Furyoki

2003
1 hr. 20 min.

10 characters
(5 male / 5 female)

Synopsis

Wartime in the fictional near future. Japanese soldiers are imprisoned on a southern island. The time and the enemy are not specified in the script. The war seems to last forever, and the POWs have no hope to go back to Japan. If they did, there wouldn't be happiness waiting in their now deserted homeland.

The carefree life on the southern island, on the other hand, rolls on slowly and idly. Depicted here is the hideous tedium of the POWs who have nothing to do and cannot find purpose in Inspired by "TAKEN CAPTIVE: A Japanese POW's Story" by Shohei Ooka, Hirata has created another of his bitter and humorous dead-end situation pieces, similar in spirit to "From S Plateau" and "Kings of the Road."

Translations

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No More Winds Blow

Mou Kazemo Fukanai

2003
2 hr.

26 characters
(11 male / 15 female)

Synopsis

The time is some twenty years from now when Japan is still in the long depression that started 30 years ago. The place is the fictional 4th facility for training the Japan Overseas Cooperation Volunteer Corps (the Japanese equivalent of the Peace Corps) candidates. This piece depicts the young, unstable candidates, each with his/her own dreams, to be sent soon to the assigned countries.

The news arrives that volunteers to developing countries for technical help will no longer be sent from the next year. They are to be the last. They worry about the future of the organization. One of them leaves when he can no longer believe in his dreams. The worry and loneliness drive some of them into love affairs and drinking, both of which are forbidden on the facility site. This piece poses the question, through the earnest dialogue of the candidate, "what is the essence of helping and being helped?"

Can we really help others?
Can we really be helped by someone?

Hirata wrote this piece for his students at Obirin University where he teaches.

Translations

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Conference before the Throne Gozen Kaigi 2005 1 hr. 20 min. 7 characters (3 male / 4 female)	Synopsis A conference-style play of seven people and one speechless doll representing the Emperor. They discuss every topic under the sun, from where to build a new bicycle parking lot to what to do about the coming alien attack. A novel work portraying the Japanese in conference who never get to conclusions.
	Translations

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Sand and Soldiers Sunato Heitai 2005 1 hr. 45 min. 14 characters (6 male / 8 female)	Synopsis An absurd drama depicting soldiers endlessly marching in the desert. Depicting the troop whose sole mission is to move onward and the civilians they come across - a family, a couple on honeymoon, etc. - this piece clearly reveals the absurdity of human existence on the battlefield.
	Translations French translaton

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