Meeting with Takahiro Fujita and the Japanese zero generation
The meeting will be led by Pietro Gaglianò
mum & gypsy is a theatre company founded in 2007 by Takahiro Fujita, one of the youngest directors of the “zero generation”. In Japan’s contemporary theatre world, this new generation of directors and playwrights have come on the scene after the advent of Oriza Hirata’s colloquial spoken-language theatre style. Hirata, director, playwright but also essayist and professor, is the founder of the “contemporary colloquial theatre”, a theatrical style that eschews theatre conventions in favour of “a theatre that is a direct portrayal of the world” and, through the use of simple dialogues, recreates and re-enacts everyday life on stage.
Following the theory of Hirata, Takahiro Fujita has created his own style which is characterized by a new methodology in which story lines develop in parallel through a complex interweaving of scenes. Symbolic scenes are repeated in the form of “refrains” that are presented from different characters’ perspectives, much like the technique of quickly shifting scenes in a movie. This method also makes creative use of the “physical transformations” that occur in the actor during these shifting perspectives. In recent years Fujita’s main creative theme is people’s memories.
The 2014 European tour is realized by Fondazione Pontedera Teatro, MESS International Theatre Festival Sarajevo, Associazione Lis Lab Performing Arts, Meina (Novara), Inteatro Polverigi (Ancona), Ente Autonomo Regionale Teatro di Messina with the support of the Japan Foundation Performing Arts Japan Programme for Europe (PAJ Europe) – Touring Grant and the cooperation of Fondazione Fabbrica Europa