FESTIVAL/TOKYO

About Program

Theatre projects giving birth to sites of debate

Port B is a theatrical unit led by Akira Takayama that has attracted attention internationally for its techniques of
utilizing and re-composing the memories and landscapes of the reality of cities and our societies through
promenade performances and installations. At F/T10 it created a series of "evacuation points" for audiences to
connect with urban spaces and the Internet in its project "The Complete Manual of Evacuation - Tokyo". It was also
recently invited to the Wiener Festwochen in May and June 2011 to present its "Compartment City", first staged at
F/T09 Autumn, and featuring interviews with 240 people in a central Vienna park, and with an international cast and crew that was much acclaimed in the German-language media.

Takayama has in these recent works employed a methodology of interactive "evacuation" for the audience members via promenade theatre, in order to question the nature of the public and the private, and the existence of minorities in modern cities. This new work at F/T11 will be Port B's first since the March 11 Great Tohoku Kanto Earthquake
and will engage with the current utmost issue of nuclear power through a theatrical project that creates a point
of debate.

Moreover, this work is not only about Japan but, being an international co-production with the Wiener Festwochen, where in Austria famously the Zwentendorf Nuclear Power Plant was prevented from ever being used by a
plebiscite, the project aims to raise awareness of the issues around the world.

A unique national referendum presented as a theatre project

The work is a national referendum - an event that has never happened even once in Japan - on the current
dilemma of whether Japan needs nuclear power, presented as a piece of theatre asking questions which no one
can say does not involve them.

Since the unprecedented March catastrophe all over the world there have been anti-nuclear demonstrations,
debates, symposia and events by cultural figures, a diversity of discussion among citizens around the nuclear
issues. But where are the messages of these people actually going? This work sets out to visualize the voices of
citizens in the form of a national referendum, a departure point for debate that considers the future and
encompassing the possibilities of developing action that connects with reality. More than just the duality of whether
you are for or against nuclear power, the project will conduct a range of research, workshops and interviews,
presenting its results online.

The work will reflect the director's critical perspective on Japanese society today, as well as being a site for
creating diverse dialogue large and small, and for shaking the very fabric of shared consensus.

Program Composition

Part 1: Creating a manual for the referendum

While considering the case study of the Zwentendorf Nuclear Power Plant in Austria, never once used following a
plebiscite, the project will conduct talks with invited guests considering what is necessary to hold the first ever
referendum in Japan. This will be archived and a "manual" that anyone can then use will be summarized online.

Part 2: Interviews and workshops gathering messages not featured in the mainstream media

In order to consider all the various aspects regarding nuclear power there will be workshops and numerous
interviews gathering the voices of citizens that are not present in the mainstream media of television,
newspapers, publications and websites. The interviews will be published online so that voters can consider them
when they go to the polling stations.

Part 3: "National Referendum" and "Meet-Ups"

In the manner of pilgrimages audiences will be invited online and by signs around Tokyo to go to the "polling
stations" set up in the city and vote yes or no on the question of is nuclear power necessary for Japan. It is
planned to select sites with historical connections to the nuclear issue and which recall the numerous victims. Every evening discussion forums with invited guests will take place at the polling stations to turn them into sites of
meetings and discussion that go beyond just yes or no answers.

　 　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　

Part 4: Ballot Count

It is planned to publish these "public voices". The nature of the announcement and conservation of the voting
results will be decided and discussed in the meetings in Part 3. The decision-making process is in our hands.