Butch Read, expat Australian comedian, who for the last 20 years has entertained people outside the Osaka Aquarium with his unique blend of comedy, magic, juggling and balloons while rapid-fire puns in the Osaka dialect stream from his mouth, has written a play in English about the alien experience among Japanese. All of the roles bar one are for Japanese people.
The persons represented in the play, and their ages are: Police Commissioner – Terasaki (59); Bando (59), a member of the city council, a fairly rich man; Kato, a police detective (30); Yago, a detective sergeant, the antagonist of the play (43); Rokubuichi, an actor (32); Monami, Bando’s daughter and an actor in the same theater group as Rokubuichi (29); Emi, Yago’s wife, former actress and now wardrobe mistress of the theater group (39); Chieko, Kato's lover and Monami’s understudy (26); and some miscellaneous parts -- a train station kiosk lady, police officers, gangsters, theater actors and crew, party house staff.
The present plan is to have auditions held during the first two weeks of July, rehearsals starting at the beginning of September and the play on stage at the beginning of November.
Anyone interested in playing roles, helping out with backstage or administration, or even just seeing the play should contact Read via his website -- www.butchread.jp.
© Japan Today
7 Comments
Login to comment
ObviousDemon
Ummmmm.....Wouldn't difficulty finding English-speaking Cast, also infer difficulty finding English-listening Audience?
Other than that, Good for You supplying non-tarento entertainment for those that want it!!!!
Andrew Matthews
You are more likely to find English-listeners amongst the Japanese than Japanese-Listeners amongst the English. In England it is still the norm not to learn another language, but to speak louder in English if the listener seems unable to understand you. :-)
I have been to similar in Germany - it can be funny (and who said the Germans have no sense of humor?)
LoveNot
If he is so proficient in Japanese why did he write the play in English?
ObviousDemon
Andrew MatthewsJan. 15, 2012 - 01:39PM JST
You are more likely to find English-listeners amongst the Japanese than Japanese-Listeners amongst the English. In England it is still the norm not to learn another language, but to speak louder in English if the listener seems unable to understand you. :-)
No question there, I'm just saying that, if you put on a Spanish language play in e.g. Canada, you may not get much of an audience????
Blair Herron
I have got e-mail from Butch Read himself and he said the target audience is Japanese people with an interest in English and foreigners living here.
I saw him on you-tube. He's an excellent juggler (otedama dekiru hito) and very funny d(^o^)b
MaboDofuIsSpicy
Try Swahili and see what happens.