Yukio Ninagawa

Director, Artistic Director of Saitama Arts Theater

Born in Saitama in 1935, Yukio Ninagawa made his directing debut in 1969. In 1974 he entered the commercial theatre world with a staging of “Romeo and Juliet”. Since then he has produced a succession of major theatrical hits, establishing himself as one of the most renowned Japanese directors. He has been Artistic Director of Saitama Arts Theater since 2006, where he established Saitama Gold Theater. Since 2009 he has also been working with younger performers through Saitama Next Theatre. Recent productions include a theatre adaptation of Kazuo Ishiguro’s novel “Never Let Me Go”, “Kafka on the Shore” based on Haruki Murakami’s novel, and a play written by Tomohiro Maekawa. He has received honorary doctorates from Edinburgh University in 1992 and Plymouth University in 2009, a CBE in 2002, the Order of Culture in 2010, and the Grand Prize and Best Directing Award at the 20th Yomiuri Theatre Awards.

Saitama Gold Theater

This theatre company is led by Saitama Arts Theater Artistic Director Yukio Ninagawa and consists only of performers over 55 years old. As of July 2014 it has 39 members, aged from 63 to 88 years. It was founded in November 2005 as one of Ninagawa’s first projects at Saitama Arts Theater in order to create new opportunities for older performers to explore and express themselves through their bodies. Since 2007 the Baby Boomer generation has been reaching retirement age and so the troupe has been widely featured in the media, with applications in February 2006 exceeding 1,200 for the initial 20 places. Not only Japan, applicants have hailed from overseas, including America and Canada. Ninagawa then selected the company’s first 48 members, aged 55 to 80.