Chelfitsch challenges Japanese theater’s language barriers

For the previous 20 years, the Tokyo-based Chelfitsch theater firm has been making a type of eco-critical efficiency in Japan, confronting political and environmental crises of nationwide and world significance.

The corporate rose to worldwide prominence underneath the management of founder, playwright and director Toshiki Okada with a sequence of works in response to the 2011 Nice East Japan Earthquake. This contains “Present Location” (2012), “Floor and Flooring” (2013) and “Eraser Mountain” (2019). Among the many completely different thematic strands that join these works is the query of Japan’s identification towards the backdrop of mounting ecological, financial and inhabitants points.

In October 2021 and 2022, the corporate held a sequence of workshops in Tokyo with the aim of making “Japanese theater with individuals whose native language just isn’t Japanese.”