Participated in YOUTH FESTIVAL Aug.16(Sat)--18(Mon) 1997 Place:Kinokuniya Southern Theater

Cast Yoji OKUMURA / Mitsuyoshi MATSUURA Kozo TANAKA / Teruhisa ARATANO Hiroyuki KOSHIMURA / Kazutoshi TSUHAKO Tatsuki KOBAYASHI Maki OSADA / Takemi TAKEDA Hazuki HASEGAWA / Tomo KOJIMA Maki KANBAYASHI / Tomoko KURODA Yoshimi KONO / Yuko IGARASHI Staff original write : Yumiko OOSHIMA playwright & directer : Toshinobu KOJOE set designer : Hiroshi ISODA lighting designer : Shigeo SAITO sound designer : Yasuhiro KUROSAWA costume designer : Mayumi TOYODA stage manager : Toru SAKUMA illustrator : Taku FURUKAWA designer : Kazuyo ITOU photografer : Yasuyuki TOMIOKA company manager : Keiko FUJIKAWA / Masashi KISHIMOTO / Yoko NISHIZAKA / Haruo ARAI collaborator : chigusa WATARI

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STORY This story is about a world through the eyes of a boy, where people appear in their mental age. Souji Haneyama, a leading character, is now in the third grade of elementary school. Although he is actually 8 years old, he one day finds that his mentality suddenly grows up to be 20. Accordingly, the whole world changes all at once. Through the eyes of Souji, almost all the grown-ups around him look so mentally childish. His father, mother and school teacher are like little children. His 19-year old brother looks like an elementary school children; his grandfather, a baby..... What makes it all happen? When worrying and wondering about its reason, he meets a girl named Noriko Sotoumi, who is also in the third grade. In fact, she has mentally grown up as old as Souji. She points out a book of "A Midsummer Night's Dream" by William Shakespear, and says: "Just like the lovers in this story, we are put under the spell of love". Having told this story, Souji goes home delighted, for Miss Kobako Aoi, a 20-year-old home help, is the only person whose mental age is just the same as her actual one even through the eyes of Souji. Souji starts wandering about the woods named "home", accepting the magic as though he was one of the characters in "Midsummer Night's Dream". However, this spell of love gradually turns into a nightmare..... ENCOUNTER WITH THE ORIGINAL STORY In "A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S TAPIR" an original and smashing piece of comic by Yumiko Oshima, the characters appear in their mental age. This method to describe selfish adults as little children, and a boy who endures his tough everyday life as a grown-up is very much similar to that of theatrical expression which draws imagination of the audience. Theatre Company ISSEKI NICHO has successively presented theatrical works with 'time' and 'communication' as our theme. Naturally, we felt a great sympathy with this "A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S TAPIR", in which the time travels to-and-fro from one's mental age to his/her actual age, and the family members of different mental ages make efforts to communicate with each other to maintain the bonds of their relationship. Following Oshima's original viewpoint on time and communication, we aimed to make a production which could even more stimulate the imagination of the audience.