A Production by Toshiki Okada

The Japanese theatre director Toshiki Okada is well known for his sharp-witted, humorous plays, in which he takes a close look at the social issues facing contemporary Japanese society. In his productions, the performers on stage develop a uniquely fascinating repertoire of movement, while the characters’ conversations revolve around the both mundane and existential details of coping with everyday life. Okada made his international breakthrough in 2004 with the production Five Days in March. The piece centred on a ‘lost generation’ of Japanese youth facing a future that offers no hope. More than twenty years later, his first production at the Volksbühne am Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz will again be dealing with private fears and political despair: If you can’t make ends meet, you have to die young.