“Coming from a Dark Place” Tomohiro Maekawa x Eriko Ogawa Interview

Tomohiro Maekawa, a playwright and director, and Eriko Ogawa, a playwright and director, have won many theater awards and are active in a wide range of activities that can be called the hope of contemporary Japanese theater. In the summer of 2012, after Ogawa's successful production of ``Mission,'' the two teamed up again to create ``Coming from a Dark Place,'' a play for children and adults.

This work, born from the harmonious combination of actors and staff, literally thrilled audiences across generations, and will be on tour to eight theaters in Japan this summer, the first time in two years. The two talked about their first time creating a play for children, and their thoughts on repeating the play.

Text by : Sora Onoe
Photo: Masanobu Nishino

■Tomohiro MAEKAWA｜tomohiro MAEKAWA

Born in 1974. Playwright and director.
Born in Niigata Prefecture. He presides over the theater company Ikiume (formed in 2003), which serves as his base of activities.
Depicts a different world that appears alongside everyday life.
Outside of the troupe, he continues to take on a wide range of challenges, such as teaming up with Ennosuke Ichikawa in Super Kabuki II ``Sora wo Chokusha'' and Yukio Ninagawa in ``Taiyo 2068.'' In 2014, he won the 21st Yomiuri Theater Award for Best Director for directing Katarinko and Memoir of the Basement. In addition, he has won numerous theater awards, including the Tsuruya Nanboku Drama Award, the Kinokuniya Drama Award, the Yomiuri Literary Award, and the New Artist Award.

http://www.ikiume.jp/index.html

■Eriko Ogawa｜eriko OGAWA

Translation and direction. Born in Tokyo in 1978.
Graduated from Actors Studio Graduate School Directing Department in 2004. From 2004 to 2005, he was a trainee at the Lincoln Center Director Training Institute.
From 2006 to 2007, he was a trainee under the 2005 Emerging Artist Overseas Dispatch Program.
In 2010, he won the Yushi Odajima Translated Drama Award for Sam Shepard's ``The Late Henry Moss'' (CAT produced/J. Clip). In 2012, she won the 19th Yomiuri Theater Awards Haruko Sugimura Award for ``12 People - A Story of Miracles'' (Office Cotton), ``Night Visitors'' (Kyoto), and ``Pride'' (TPT). In 2014, he won the 48th Kinokuniya Theater Award Individual Award, the 16th Senda Koreya Award, and the 21st Yomiuri Theater Award Outstanding Director Award. One of the directors attracting the most attention today.

Maekawa: This was my first time creating a play with children in mind, but I didn't have to make any different preparations or change my approach significantly. As I said at the production announcement for the premiere, when I think back to my childhood, I had a number of experiences where I felt that things that I didn't understand a little would stay in my memory for a long time, so I didn't want to take much of the time. I thought it would be better for people to concentrate on watching if I wasn't too kind with my steps. However, I was aware that my style was a bit logical (lol), so I tried to keep the story development as simple as possible, and once I laid out foreshadowing, the time it took to develop it was shorter than usual. .

Ogawa: I don't have any particular concerns either. If anything, I had high expectations that I might be able to have fun using techniques such as direct directing and gimmicky techniques that I don't usually do in theater.

Maekawa: When I write a play, I usually listen to the opinions of other people a lot in order to refine it, such as asking actors and staff members to listen to the development, but for this work, I wrote it almost all at once without consulting anyone. Something like that. The main character, Teruo, reflects a lot of my own childhood experiences, and when I held a screening of the stage play in my hometown of Kashiwazaki City, Niigata Prefecture in January of this year, I asked my mother and younger sister what they thought. I was watching in suspense, worried that someone would attack me (lol).

Photo: Aki Tanaka (from the 2012 KAAT Kanagawa Arts Theater premiere)

Ogawa: I just found out that Mr. Maekawa's actual experience was reflected so much (lol).

Maekawa: I don't usually include my personal experiences in my works. However, I believe that by adding my own experiences, the work has become something that is not influenced by the age of children or adults. The reason why Teruo feels vague anxiety and fear about his grandmother's house is because of the ``sense of guilt'' within him. It's common in horror to feel things that other people don't feel due to the guilt that lurks in your subconscious, and to experience things that are supposed to be invisible to the naked eye in different forms, and to be frightened by them.

Ogawa: That's certainly true. Because it is such a standard play, we had the actors, staff, and of course Mr. Maekawa come to the rehearsal room many times, and we were able to create it while exchanging various ideas. It was a very exciting and fun time for me. The staff at KAAT always worked at full capacity to take care of even the smallest details, and they did a great job.

We felt like we were making it fun, but at the final stage, we started to worry, ``Will the kids be happy with it?'' It's my first time, so I don't know how they'll react. Therefore, we decided to have over 20 parents and children watch the show as a preview just before the opening day. I had to push the staff, but their reaction really saved me.

Maekawa: That's right, they laughed a lot more than I expected, and they paid attention to me when I needed to concentrate.

Ogawa: He quickly accepted the rule that ``People in the dark world can only be seen by Teruo,'' and was amused by Teruo's slight twitches. However, when I asked him what he thought after the show, he made some sharp comments like, ``The shadows projected on the projector are out of place!'' and I had to hastily fix them (lol).

Maekawa: I was impressed and relieved that they were watching it well.

Ogawa: Even during the actual performance, you can clearly see that the children create the atmosphere of the theater. Some children laugh or get scared before adults, and sometimes even say things like, "I'm not scared!" and adults are drawn into the world of acting by these honest expressions of emotion. I was keenly aware that the presence of the children made this work possible.

Maekawa: It was also good to have seats that surrounded the stage and faced each other. In particular, there are children in the front row, and from the seats facing the audience, their reactions can be seen as part of the work. That's why I think the children's direct reactions had a strong influence on the work.

Photo: Aki Tanaka (from the 2012 KAAT Kanagawa Arts Theater premiere)

Ogawa: Also, for me personally, I guess you could say that I used a slightly nostalgic theater-like gimmick in the direction of this work, which I normally wouldn't have been able to do even if I wanted to. I was able to experiment with various things, such as how to create a contrast between light and shadow to express the presence of things that cannot be seen, and how to use simple and straightforward techniques, such as the wind shaking the curtains, with careful calculations. This was possible thanks to the cooperation of the art, lighting, and sound departments, but my personal accomplishment was that I realized once again that ``theatre should actually be created in such a way that you can enjoy it honestly.'' As a result, my family, who usually complain that the plays I direct are ``long and dark,'' even said, ``There is no production that can surpass this'' (lol).

Maekawa: When I went to the rehearsal room for the first time, Mr. Ogawa was acting so precisely as usual that I put myself aside and was honestly shocked, thinking, ``You're not thinking about it being aimed at children...'' (lol), but it was the right choice to make it in a way that didn't appeal to children.

I think that's why the audience, the children who are more honest and serious than anyone else, became our allies. This tour will take the work to various regions such as Chubu, Kansai, and Kyushu, but I would like children to be present at every theater to see the work.

Ogawa: Really, the presence of children is a must for this work.
In order to have a better and more enjoyable viewing experience, we would like adults to come along with their children.

Maekawa: The cast and staff will all be the same for the re-enactment. That's why we aim to evolve and deepen our work, so I'm sure those who saw the premiere will find a different kind of enjoyment in it.