Meet Up ECoC!European Capital of Culture

Meet Up ECoC!European Capital of Culture

CHITEN

Contact person :
Yuna Tajima
Position :
Producer
Link :
http://chiten.org
Chiten, meaning locus or point, is a theatre company led by director Motoi Miura. It specializes in performances created out of collages using fragments of existing texts. It employs an original linguistic style, deliberately delaying the cadence and rhythm of language to expose the raw sound of the words liberated from their meanings. This technique has frequently been recognized for its musical qualities. Rather than maintaining a single systematic methodology, Chiten explores a wide variety of approaches for the texts it adapts. Its major work includes a series of stagings of Chekhov plays, Brechts Fatzer, and Jelineks Kein Licht. Originally based in Tokyo, Chiten moved to Kyoto in 2005. In 2013 it renovated a derelict former music venue to open an atelier space: UNDER-THROW. The name is derived from a Japanese-English word literally meaning under pitching and which usually refers to a submarine pitch in baseball. At the space Chiten performs a repertoire of previous productions and new works. In 2011, it performed The Cherry Orchard and Uncle Vanya at the Meyerhold Centre in Moscow. It was invited to perform Coriolanus at Shakespeares Globe theatre in London as part of the World Shakespeare Festival in 2012. Alongside its acclaimed overseas tours, it regularly receives commissions for co-productions with public theatres and festivals in Japan, including the Kanagawa Arts Theatre (KAAT) in Yokohama, Kyoto Experiment, and Festival/Tokyo. The company currently has six permanent performers. All the members of the company appear in every production, whether that is acting over thirty roles in Shakespeare plays or performing texts that are fundamentally non-dramatic, such as the Constitution of Japan. The company aspires to arrive at new frontiers in technique and directing. Departing fully from realism, Chiten rehearsals are improvisational in nature in order create complex and difficult theatre through its unique critical interpretations.

Last update : 13 Jan. 2022

Works

CHITEN \\\"Kein Licht. (No Light.)\\\"
photo: Takuya Matsumi

Curriculum vitae