Ku
Na'uka was founded in 1990 by Satoshi Miyagi, who has won great
acclaim for his solo-performance. Ku Na'uka, means "towards
science" in Russian, which shows our clear policy since the
company's foundation. Our main theme is the way "two actors
play one role". One does the story telling while the other moves
on the stage along with the story, like a doll. The suppressed
energy of both roles, creates dynamism beyond reality. This
is the spirit of Ku Na'uka.
A
meeting point of past & present, East & West, classical &
contemporary
Life and death, love and hate... to
express the depth of dynamic emotion of the human being, we
choose classics from both East and West. By taking elements
from Japanese traditional arts such as Bunraku, Kabuki, No
and combining them with the technology of the 90's, we have
founded a new style which represents Japan today.
A
stage plan which extracts power from the space
We aim to transform the whole atmosphere
surrounding the stage. To make the best use of the peculiarities
of each space, we plan the stage set in minute detail. The
selection of the theatre itself becomes one of the most important
considerations. We have thus performed at places which are
not designed to be theatre such as warehouses, museums, temple
courts, castle grounds, stately homes etc...
Story
telling with music
Music is played throughout the performance.
Selections vary from recordings of modern western music to
folk music from around the world. Recently, we have been leaning
towards live percussion sounds. The instruments, which are
utilized by the actors themselves, originated in Africa or
Asia : Djambe, Bongo, Conga, Korean Chang and so on. In this
way, the words of the story fuse with the music and become
a part of the whole.
Collaboration
with artists from all over the world
This characteristic (two actors play
one role) technique works efficiently to allow collaboration
with foreign actors. Turandot was performed in English in
the U.S.A. with the participation of American actors as "story
tellers". Spanish and French actors as story tellers joined
us on the stage of Salome. in Spain and France using their
native languages. American and French actors as "movers" also
played in Japan.
|