Rimini Protokoll, thought leaders in documentary theatre, return to Japan!
After their successful performances of “Mnemopark” in 2008 (Tokyo International Arts Festival) and “Karl Marx: Capital, Volume One” in 2009 (Festival/Tokyo) Rimini Protokoll, trendsetters in contemporary theatre worldwide, will make a challenge in implementing their first outdoor performance in Japan.
Rimini Protokoll have raised attention over the entire globe with their unique method of creating documentary theatre. Their works up to now that tend to constantly re-define the relation between theatre and reality mainly apply two different approaches to their subject:
In works like “Mnemopark” and “Karl Marx: Capital, Volume One”, not professional actors, but ‘ordinary people’ whom Rimini Protokoll calls “experts of the everyday” appear on the theater stage. Their lives and biographical background are in a special way related to the theme of the piece and while they are telling experiences and episodes from their ‘real life’, one could say that they display reality as itself on stage.
In the second type of works, Rimini Protokoll leave the theater behind and visit various sceneries in the midst of today’s society like courts, annual shareholder’s meetings, markets, call centers etc. aiming to investigate the theatricality of procedures and rituals in our everyday life.
“Cargo Tokyo-Yokohama” is the Japanese adaptation of “Cargo Sofia X” a work created by Rimini Protokoll in 2006 in Basel (Switzerland).
“Cargo Sofia X”
“Cargo Sofia X” was produced in 2006 in Basel (Switzerland) and has, enjoying immense popularity, so far toured 30 cities in Europe and the Near East. Inspired by the increase of goods traffic due to globalization and the expansion of the European Union, Rimini Protokoll chose the most appropriate vehicle for this topic: The audience takes a seat in the back of a converted truck and start out for a tour tracing the flow of goods. The performers in “Cargo Sofia” are two veteran Bulgarian truck drivers, who have a lot of experience working in the rich Western European countries while being paid a very low salary by their employer in Eastern Europe. While the spectators/passengers listen to them telling stories about their daily life and work, the truck brings the audience to places in the urban area of their city, that most of them have for sure never visited before.
“Cargo Tokyo-Yokohama”
“Cargo Tokyo-Yokohama” is an original work for Japan created on the base of the concept of “Cargo Sofia X”. How can the reality of goods traffic in the island country Japan be described? How is Japan influenced by globalization? What is the daily life of Japanese truck drivers like? The artists will during a two months stay in Japan undertake research in Japan in the harbor area and suburbs of Tokyo and Yokohama and, based on their results, create the original Japanese “Cargo”-version “Cargo Tokyo-Yokohama”. Of course the performers will be truck drivers working in Japan. Incorporating the specific history, geography and social circumstances of the metropolitan area of Tokyo and Yokohama, Rimini Protokoll will create a work that substantially refers to Japan’s current economic and social situation.
The audience that views the goods traffic from the perspective of a freight will trace the flow of goods, and on the roads discover an urban area, that is completely different from the scenery of Tokyo and Yokohama they are familiar with.
