We will be taking part in the Japan Selection at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2025!
Japan Selection at Edinburgh Festival Fringe
We will also be participating in a pitch event in London on August 25.
Theatre Company Awai “SONNET”
Genre: Contemporary physical theatre based on Shakespeare’s sonnets
Duration: Approx. 60 minutes
Language: Japanese (English surtitles available)
Cast: 4 actors (+3 musicians)
Description:
A poetic and physical theatre piece reimagining Shakespeare’s 154 Sonnets through modern Japanese language, music, and movement. Originally created in Tokyo, the piece blends Shakespeare’s voice with that of a young Japanese artist, exploring love, memory, and translation in a contemporary setting.
Past Performances of SONNET
– 2019 BUoY (Tokyo) – premiere
– 2019 Minokamo Cultural Forest (Gifu)
– 2021 Music version released online
– 2023.11 University of Tokyo (Staged Reading)
– 2023.12 Chat Noir Yokohama (Jazz Live Version)
Touring & Collaboration Possibilities
・Minimal technical requirements and no freight necessary
・Cast: 4 Japanese actors plus recorded or live music
・Live music by 3 local or Japanese musicians
・Flexible and site-responsive staging: theatres, schools, bars, festivals
・English script available
・Open for workshops and post-show talks
・Thematically suitable for international audiences interested in:
・Translation, cultural hybridity, memory, and poetry
・Open to co-production models or site-specific adaptations
Past productions of SONNET
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL7eH79Vv1I2bx_PKaWUia4ZNwHq7YnXrj
Tour Pack
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1tzS7E-PdfgpYH8lGQco_GnM8L6kavwsH/view?usp=sharing
Company Profile
Theatre Company Awai is a Tokyo-based collective founded in 2018 by six artists born in 1998.
Blending Japan’s traditional forms like Noh and Rakugo with literature and pop culture, they create works that cross eras, genres, and cultures. Their minimalist aesthetic values suggestion over explanation, inviting the audience into a shared imaginative space.
The company name “Awai” means “in-between,” reflecting their pursuit of theatre as a space where tradition meets innovation, and cultures resonate across boundaries.
They have been invited to major venues and festivals in Japan, including Tokyo Metropolitan Theatre, KAAT, and Toyooka Theater Festival.
https://soil-net.jp/works/sonnet/
Other Touring Works by Awai
“Drifting”,2019
“Letters”, 2021
“Corona”, 2022
“Can‘t Love Each Other”, 2024
“Pithecanthropus Erectus”, 2024
Contact：
Sae Takamoto
info@gekidanawai.com
