Setagaya Art Farm 2024 music play “Kiki on the Trapeze” will be performed at Setagaya Public Theatre in Tokyo and Arcrea Himeji in Hyogo in August.
The play is based on Minoru Betsuyaku’s children’s stories “Kiki on the Trapeze” “the Wildcat Barber Shop” and “The Murderer’s House on the Hill”. Based on these original stories, the play will be reconstructed as a musical drama with a script by Yoko Kitagawa of FAIFAI, composition and direction by Kinuyo Nogami, also of FAIFAI, and music by Oorutaichi.
The cast will include Miyu Sakihi and Koudai Matsuoka, and circus performers are also scheduled to participate. For more information, please check the special website.
【Kinuyo Nogami’s comment】
Betsuyaku’s works often feature settings and characters that have lost their identities. For example, a train with no passengers that has an ever-increasing crew, or a police officer who dresses up as a thief to arrest a thief who is not there, these seemingly “useless” characters are very earnest and endearing.
The protagonist of “Kiki on the Trapeze” is also a girl struggling with her identity. Miyu Sakihi plays her, and the characters who support her and watch over her are all very attractive. In addition, we have selected circus artists. The production will be full of surprise, laughter, and love. Please look forward to it.
【Miyu Sakihi’s comment】
I wondered what would happen and what I would witness… It is as if I am filled with a sense of elation just before stepping into a circus tent. I am looking forward to working hand in hand with Kinuyo Nogami, Kodai Matsuoka, and all the professionals to create a richly expressive world that combines the many fairy tales created by Minoru Betsuyaku. The Setagaya Public Theatre has been my dream theater for many years. I am truly grateful to have been given the opportunity to perform here for the first time. Please come see Kiki and her friends this summer! We look forward to seeing you!
【Kodai Matsuoka’s comment】
I am very grateful to be able to work with such wonderful people. I feel a pleasant sense of loneliness when I read Minoru Betsuyaku’s fairy tales. I feel a longing for a childhood spent without meaning or calculation, for time and freedom that will never return, and on the other hand, I also feel a present-day gaze that looks at irrational things with a slightly cynical eye. For some reason, I like quiet and relative phenomena. There are many things I don’t understand, but even that is becoming fun. The fusion of unknown elements of art, I can’t stop being excited about it. Children and adults who were children, please look forward to this troupe.
