BRIEF BIOGRAPHY
Born
in Fukui, west coast of Japan. A gifted
pianist in my youth but, when the time came, opted to go to university, not a
conservatoire. To a young vibrant mind, the life of a classical pianist,
devoting several hours daily to rehearsing, seemed unreasonably monastic.
Graduating
from International Christian University, Tokyo, with a BA thesis on The
Essence of Kabuki, went to America to study Theatre Arts (Directing,
Acting & Choreography) at the School of Fine and Applied Arts, Boston
University. Graduated with a Master of
Fine Art, directing Federico Garcia Lorca's Blood Wedding. Work experience in US summer theatres. Played the heroine Tsu
in Jinji Kinoshita's Twilight Crane
at the legendary Provincetown Playhouse, Mass. The most memorable
experience of the period was singing The Song of a German Mother
in Ed Thommen's Boston production ofThe
Private Lives of the Master Race by Bertolt Brecht. Drove across the
States to San Francisco, where I took a homebound flight.
On
returning to Japan, joined the Gekidan Mingei, a leading left-leaning Tokyo theatre company as
assistant director. Shocked to find the still feudalistic culture that ruled
this supposedly progressive theatre group. During this period, was also an
associate of the Kindai Eikyo
Film Association, led then by the film director Kaneto
Shindo (The Island, Onibaba).
Played the lead role of Mother in their semi-documentary feature film
about a severely handicapped child, We, The Human Family.
Returned
to the US as a Fulbright scholar and studied with Jan Kott at University of
California, Berkeley. The PhD programme in Dramatic
Art equipped directors with comprehensive knowledge of theatre history and
drama, involving at the same time training in practical aspects such as
lighting. During this period performed
as Cordelia in a university production of King
Lear. My special fields of study for the
degree were Sophocles and Samuel Beckett.
Researched and wrote a dissertation on The
Folk Religious Ritual Origins of Kabuki.
The work took me to remote mountainous regions of Japan, where people still
perform ancient life-renewal rituals.
Kott, then a visiting professor at Berkeley, was inspirational. His
critical and radical approach to theatre was indeed eye-opening.
Married
a UK physicist and moved to Cambridge, UK.
Lecturer in Japanese Theatre and Literature, School of Oriental and
African Studies, University of London (1981-1994). Founded Workshop 5 with the aim of promoting
innovative intercultural dramatic works. Organized London International Theatre
Symposium Japanese Theatre and the West, in association
with the Institute of Contemporary Arts, for Japan Festival 91. Resigned from SOAS in 1994 in order to pursue
theatre work full time. Return to web
pages for details of selected works.