No Horizon

by Toshiki Okada / Thalia Theater Hamburg

Director Toshiki Okada
Stage Design Dominic Huber
Costume Design Tutia Schaad
Music Kazuhisa Uchihashi
Lighting Design Dominic Huber / Thalia Gaussstrasse
Dramaturgy Makiko Yamaguchi, Julia Lochte

With
Julian Greis
Maike Knirsch
Felix Knopp
Sylvana Seddig
Steffen Siegmund

A handful of people gather in a public space. A play ground? Hard to say. Everything is covered with fog. Take the horizon – for which two words exist in Japanese, one for the sea’s horizon (水平線 / Sui-hei-sen), the other for the horizon of the land (地平線 / Chi-hei-sen). How self-assuredly – or unassuredly – do we make our way through our contemporary world? How far can we see? How much are we able to grasp? What happens as we spend more and more time both in the real and the virtual world? Why are so many people failing their driving tests? What distinguishes public spaces from private spaces? The Japanese theatre artist, writer and director Toshiki Okada uses his work to transport characters who live in hypermodernity into actual places: A metro station in Tokyo (Nō Theatre), a Karaoke Bar (No Sex), an apartment house (The Vacuum Cleaner), or the lobby of a hotel on the 22nd floor (Doughnuts). There, he approaches these persons in a singular way, using the instrumentary of his take on modern Japanese theatre. Words are only the tip of the iceberg. Far more is submerged: Call it imagination. A very talented choreographer, as Okada likes to say.

“In Toshiki Okadas "No Horizon" in Hamburg fliehen vom Kapitalismus geschundene Seelen in eine heile, virtuelle Welt. Das klingt kitschig, ist aber eine echte Aufmunterung. (…) Eine Smaragdstadt mit gütigem Zauberer, wo alles ziemlich anders ist, aber dafür sehr nah am Glück.” Till Briegleb, Sueddeutsche Zeitung

“Wenn banale Wahrheiten zur großen Kunst werden.” Hamburger Abendblatt

Credits: Dominic Huber / Fabian Hammerl