Kyoto performance reviews

--> Antibodies’ Collective (Kyoto) with Tactile Bosch (UK) May 25 th 2019 Seibu Kodo Kyodai Kyoto The Antiodies Collective( http://antibo.org/  ) created an installation performance piece of the post-Fukushima era took place in Kyoto, creating a retro- and post-modern atmosphere of a tangible alien planet. Stepping into Kyoto University Seibu Kodo   was a time-slip of its own. This a venerable space near the French and Italian Institutes adjacent to Kyoto University was originally a central performance space, part of the student union, but has fallen into disuse, a puddly,sloppy parking lot and debris surrounding the old structure. But inside it is magic: high ceilings, with a stadium-sized concrete and dirt floor, sloping downward. It has hosted all sorts of vanguard troupes since the 1960s, and continues to be the occasional meeting homeground for old hippies and new artists. The Antibodies Collective, performed on Inushima in the Inland Sea last year and r

--> The Children and the Animals came onto the streets Tokyo Metropolitan Art Center May 5 th 2019 http://www.19-27.co.uk/the-animals-and-children The charming black-humor children’s production with the somewhat leading name was performed during the Golden Week, when parents had a full ten days to fill with appropriate entertainment. The play had been described by The Guardian as part Dickens, part Kafka, part Pantomime, part silent film, and lived up to its billing. Like Lemony Snicket and Tim Burton, and the Gorey aesthetic they dwell upon, these young performers know how to amuse and educate, while tapping the dark side. Their Golem—seen in full on YouTube—was a more mature work, far-reaching in its social significance for the moment. But Children similarly hit a delicate nerve to provoke curiosity, disgust, and amusement.             The Troupe evoke the silent film era of camerawork, faded colors, and primitive CG, a kind of high-tech retro performa

--> Cinnamon by Teshigahara Saburo at Theatre X: Appreciating dance/narrative tracks May 4 th 2019 730p.m. show Teshigara Saburo performed a revival of Cinnamon based on a short story by Bruno Schulz (Street of crocodiles). The story depicts in direct, lyric manner an unusual evening for a young boy, sent home from church by his father. Getting lost when taking a shortcut home in the evening cold, he passes the small shops selling oddities he nicknames “cinnamon shops,” visits his school, where the presence of the principal lurks and strange specimens leap out of the cupboards and exhibits, then takes a horse and carriage galloping in the forest before returning home. There is wonderful mood evocation but little drama in this surreal fantasy, a gloomy, rumination on snow, night, fear, and sacrifice. What Teshigahara has done is express in dance a parallel story. A female (!) voice reads the tale, significantly edited, pausing from time to time. Two dancers ente