Event Details

Lancaster hosts an exchange between Japanese and British theatre researchers and artists.

Lancaster Institute for the Contemporary Arts (LICA) and its Cultures Research Centre will be hosting a series of workshops and events as part of a pilot project Japan-Britain Contemporary Theatre Exchange from 2 to 3 November 2023. The aim is to create a long-term collaborative network between Japanese and British theatre researchers and practitioners.

The award-winning Japanese director Yuta Hagiwara, leader of Tokyo-based company Kamome Machine will be facilitating an exciting site-specific workshop entitled Democracy as a Verb using Lancaster campus squares. Currently residing in New York researching the concepts of ‘public and democracy’, Hagiwara said:

‘I’m thrilled to be doing this workshop in Lancaster. I’m hoping to explore with participants this uncertain concept of democracy that undoubtedly affects our bodies. We will all be lost like children on the Lancaster campus.’

On Friday, 3 November 2023 at Nuffield Theatre, one of the leading Japanese theatre scholars, Professor Tadashi Uchino (Gakushuin Women’s College, Tokyo) will give a lecture introducing contemporary Japanese theatre practice including the more recent pandemic and post-pandemic developments. This will be followed by roundtable talk Traveling, Gathering, Exchanging with Japanese and British researchers and artists.

Professor Uchino said: ‘I am very grateful for the invitation from Lancaster University. My lecture is a kind of a mapping, not-too-much theoretically articulated, of contemporary performance cultures in Japan, including post-covid contextual changes at large. I very much look forward to exchanging with researchers, artists, and students at Lancaster.’

The project is jointly organised by Dr Karen Jürs-Munby, Senior Lecturer in Theatre at Lancaster University, Beri Juraic, PhD Candidate in Theatre Studies, also at Lancaster University and Dr Richard Talbot, Senior Lecturer in Performance at University of Salford where there will be additional workshop and talk on Monday, 6 November 2023.

Dr Karen Jürs-Munby, one of the co-organisers said: ‘Contemporary Japanese theatre has strong resonances with the postdramatic theatre practices in Europe, but we don’t often have first-hand experience of it. I am all the more excited that Professor Uchino and Yuta Hagiwara will share their knowledge, ideas and practice of contemporary Japanese theatre with us in Lancaster.’

The initiator of the project Beri Juraic, a third-year PhD Candidate in Theatre working on a PhD project about crossing borders in contemporary Japanese theatre, said: ‘In the last year, I had the privilege to exchange with many Japanese theatre makers and scholars. It has been truly an enriching experience. Beyond well-known Japanese food, manga, anime and popular culture, Japan has a very vibrant contemporary theatre scene which is seldom seen in the UK and Europe. I invite Lancastrian academics, theatre-makers and lovers of theatre and students to join us.’

The project is supported by Arts and Humanities Research Council UK through Northwest Consortium Doctoral Training Partnership and Japan Foundation London Grant Programme.

For detailed information and to register please visit:

http://contemporarytheatreexchange.com/registration.html

Event schedule:

Thursday, 2 November 2023 Lancaster University

Workshop: ‘Democracy as a Verb’, led by Yuta Hagiwara (Kamome Machine, Tokyo)

Times: 14:00 – 18:00

Venue: The LICA building A27-29 events spaces, Lancaster University

Friday, 3 November 2023 Lancaster University

3:30-4:00 pm Registration and Welcome Address

4:00 – 5:00 pm Lecture: ‘A Very Short Introduction to Contemporary Japanese Theatre’, Prof Tadashi Uchino (Gakushuin Women’s College, Tokyo)

5:00 – 5:15pm Break

5:15 pm – 6:45pm Roundtable talk: ‘Travelling, Gathering and Exchanging’

Venue: Nuffield Theatre, Lancaster University

Monday, 6 November 2023, University of Salford

13:30 – 14:30

Lecture: ‘A Very Short Introduction to Contemporary Japanese Theatre’, Prof Tadashi Uchino (Gakushuin Women’s College, Tokyo)

14:30-15:00 Break

15:00 – 18:00 Workshop: ‘Democracy as a Verb’, led by Yuta Hagiwara (Kamome Machine, Tokyo)

Venue: New Adelphi Studio, New Adelphi Building, Peel Park Campus, University of Salford

For more details please visit contemporarytheatreexchange.com

To register for workshop, please fill in the form here

To register exchange events in Lancaster and Salford, please fill in the form here

For details on how to get to the venues see here:

https://www.lancaster.ac.uk/about-us/maps-and-travel/ (Lancaster University)

https://www.salford.ac.uk/travel (University of Salford)