Chiten Your Court

Chiten

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 is frequently recognized for its musical qualities. Chiten’s major work includes stagings of Chekhov’s 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, whose name derives from a Japanese-English word literally meaning “under pitching” and which usually refers to a submarine pitch in baseball. At the space, Chiten stages a repertoire of previous productions and new works. It performed Coriolanus at Shakespeare’s Globe theatre in London as part of the World Shakespeare Festival in 2012. The company enjoys an acclaimed reputation overseas.

Motoi Miura

Director, head of Chiten
Born in 1973, Motoi Miura studied in Paris from 1999 on the Agency for Cultural Affairs Overseas Study Program for Artists. He returned to Japan in 2001 and started his work with his company, Chiten. In 2005, he relocated from Tokyo to Kyoto. His major productions include Chekhov’s Three Sisters and Jelinek’s Kein Licht. He is the recipient of numerous prizes and accolades, and the author of two books about theatre. His adaptation of Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment will form part of the repertoire of the Tovstonogov Bolshoi Drama Theater in Saint Petersburg, Russia.

Shuntaro Matsubara

Playwright
Born in 1988 in Kumamoto Prefecture, Shuntaro Matsubara graduated with a degree in economics from Kobe University. In 2015, his debut play, En Route, won the 15th AAF Drama Award given by Aichi Prefectural Arts Theater. In 2019, he won the 63rd Kishida Kunio Drama Award for Yamayama (I Would Prefer Not To). His novel Say What Is True? is published in Kodansha’s monthly literary magazine Gunzo, April, 2020. His major plays include The Japanese Who Forget, Keep Your Front Up, and Modest Difference. He is a 2020 Fellow I of The Saison Foundation.