An eternal student in his mid-forties, overwhelmed by his own life and the world in general, flees from his scolding father into a cupboard that serves as his door into a mysterious parallel universe and an extraordinary journey. Just like in Lewis Carroll’s ‹Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland›, he encounters an ensemble of bizarre fantasy figures – part human, part animal, part phallus. The stage resembles a cabinet of curiosities, whose rooms rotate in synch with the male lead’s mental state. The forty-something man is actually on a trip through his own psychological traumas: with the same intensity as the hard-working student studies for his exams, he also represses his emotional and sexual needs.
The former psychiatric practitioner Kuro Tanino (*1976) scrutinises the abyss of human psychology. Fascinated by the problems of his patients, he decided to give up his job and to focus on the performing arts. Tanino founded his theatre group ‹Niwagekidan Penino› (‹Garden Theatre Group Penino›) in 2000 together with friends from university. ‹BOX IN THE BIG TRUNK› is based on three previous works, uniting them to create a powerfully visual und Kafkaesque kaleidoscope.
Author and director: Kuro Tanino
Actors: Ikuma Yamada, Ichigo Iida, Momoi Shimada, Taeko Seguchi
Concept: Junichiro Tamaki, Yukiko Yamaguchi, Mario Yoshino
Stage scenery: Michiko Inada
Light: Kosuke Ashidano
Sound: Yoshihiro Nakamura
Music: Yu Okuda
Stage scenery assistant: Nanako Oizumi
Props: Kotaro Yokosawa, Kenichiro Okonogi (GaRP)
Stage manager: Hisashi Mitsu
Assistants of stage manager: Takumi Harada, Masaya Natsume
Assistant of director: Yui Matsumoto
English subtitles: William Andrews, Miwa Monden
Production manager: Futoshi Miyai
Tourmanagement: Ayako Goto
Coordination of production: Miwa Monden, Chika Onozuka
Production: Niwagekidan Penino/ Arche. LLC
Support: Saison Fundation, Arts Council Tokyo
In Japanese with German subtitles, running time 90 min.
Click HERE for a trailer.
