XVI MFG Iwona księżniczka Burgunda - Teatr Chiten, Kioto, Japonia

Chiten, meaning “locus” or “point”, is a theatre company led by director Motoi Miura. It specializes in performances created out of collages using fragments of existing texts. It employs an original linguistic style, deliberately delaying the cadence and rhythm of language to expose the raw sound of the words liberated from their meanings. This technique has frequently been recognized for its musical qualities. Rather than maintaining a single systematic methodology, Chiten explores a wide variety of approaches for the texts it adapts. Its major work includes a series of staging of Chekhov plays, Brecht’s Fatzer, and Jelinek’s Kein Licht. Originally based in Tokyo, Chiten moved to Kyoto in 2005. In 2013 it renovated a derelict former music venue to open an atelier space: UNDER-THROW. The name is derived from a Japanese- English word literally meaning “under pitching” and which usually refers to a “Submarine pitch” in baseball. At the space Chiten performs a repertoire of previous productions and new works. In 2011, it performed The Cherry Orchard and Uncle Vanya at the Meyerhold Centre in Moscow. It was invited to perform Coriolanus at Shakespeare’s Globe theatre in London as part of the World Shakespeare Festival in 2012. Alongside its acclaimed overseas tours, it regularly receives commissions for co-productions with public theatres and festivals in Japan. The company currently has four permanent performers. All the members of the company appear in every production, whether that is acting over thirty roles in Shakespeare plays or performing texts that are fundamentally non-dramatic, such as the Constitution of Japan. The company aspires to arrive at new frontiers in technique and directing. Departing fully from realism, Chiten rehearsals are improvisational in nature rehearsals are improvisational in nature in order create complex and difficult theatre through its unique critical interpretations.