The Japan Society Review

Conductor and translator Toru Sasakibara, director Kyoko Fujishiro, original script and music by W.S. Gilbert & A. Sullivan For the first time ever a Japanese theater company came to the UK to perform the Mikado in Japanese to an enthusiastic British audience. The lively and brilliantly colourful production was part of the 2006 International Gilbert & Sullivan Festival in Buxton, Derby. It perfectly blended Japanese and British elements to create an astonishingly successful hybrid which was true to the original, while incorporating some crowd-pleasing Japanese innovations. Review by Sean Curtin

Directed by Yukio Ninagawa, produced by Horipro Inc and the Saitama Arts Foundation in association with Thelma Holt As part of the Royal Shakespeare Company's the Complete Works Festival, legendary director Yukio Ninagawa's Japanese language production of Shakespeare's bloodiest play was transported around the globe to Stratford-upon-Avon for just ten performances. Although Titus Andronicus is not so frequently performed, it's a strangely compelling tale of intense violence and horrific retribution. Ninagawa masterfully utilizes these extremes to create a brilliant new interpretation which creates the illusion that Japanese is Shakespeare's original language. Review by Sean Curtin