Ashizawa Jin is an illustrator/columnist who seems to have worked for GRAPH since the 1960s (yes, you read that right). His interview column gets a new title every year but usually the format is fairly similar. The 2018 column was called Heartpounding and Exciting, and this interview with Maaya Kiho was published in the February 2018 issue.
Heartpounding and Exciting #1 – Ashizawa Jin interview with Maaya Kiho
Ashizawa: Your debut performance in the Grand Theatre, A Passage Through the Light – Revolutionary Maximilien Robespierre / SUPER VOYAGER! is more than halfway through, so are you a bit more used to the responsibility of being Top Musumeyaku now?
Maaya: Oh, everything is so totally new to me… But I think the pre-debut performance, the national tour (Drenched in the Amber-Hued Rain / “D”ramatic S!) was harder on me emotionally. I was unfamiliar with being in that position, and the theatres kept changing as well. Now I feel like I am home again. I know all of the backstage staff members, and everyone in Snow Troupe is together as well, so that gives me confidence.
Ashizawa: Your general lifestyle must have changed quite a bit as well, I’m sure.
Maaya: It has. I know that if I’m unwell, it will make things difficult for Nozomi-san as well, so I’m taking even more care of my health than I ever did before.
Ashizawa: The role of Marie-Anne in A Passage Through the Light seems rather difficult?
Maaya: It is difficult. When I first was given the script I thought ‘is it really OK for me to talk this much, and sing so much?’ But then I thought that it was fine since I’d been given this, so I had to concentrate on making sure I lived up to the responsibility. On the other hand, knowing that I would be coming on by myself after Nozomi-san had been singing was certainly a lot of pressure, and thinking about how I would have to control the theatre space alone was rather frightening.
Ashizawa: She is a fictional character, is that right?
Maaya: Yes, that’s correct. At first it was rather hard to get hold of her character, but as the rehearsals got into their second half, and I began to feel more clearly how she lived, and what she thought, and what sort of person she was in relation to Robespierre, I became more passionate towards, more than the individual scenes and songs, the emotions of my character.
Ashizawa: So she’s gradually coming to life inside of you.
Maaya: I think so. There’s also a lot I’ve figured out since starting to play her on stage. Each day, after the play ends, I feel as if I’ve used up Marie-Anne’s life entirely, and I almost wonder if it’s really true that I’ll be able to play her again the next day. Right now, I’ll end up crying in every scene. I lose my family in the revolution and cry with fury at the revolution, and then when Robespierre tells me of his ideals for happiness I am moved by the discovery of a new light and cry at that… I’ll get so full of emotion that I can’t control my reaction any more.
Ashizawa: You don’t have the space to look at yourself as an outside observer.
Maaya: That’s true. If everything comes from my feelings personally, the audience can see that. That’s my main issue at the moment.
Ashizawa: Could you tell me about what it’s like to perform together with Nozomi-san?
Maaya: When we were in Flower Troupe together I would think, she likes the stage so much, she’s so professional, she’s so well put together, she’s amazing. And then we were transferred, and Nozomi-san went to Snow Troupe while I went to Star Troupe, but all the same if I wasn’t getting something I would ask Nozomi-san what she thought. After becoming her partner, the atmosphere I feel in the rehearsal room is that while of course she is very well put together herself, she also really notices what goes on around her. So much that I think she understands me better than I do myself (laughs). If I’m about to get totally frustrated like ‘What am I supposed to do now!’ she’ll tell me ‘Everything will be fine!’
Ashizawa: That’s something to be grateful for. You must feel very confident that way.
Maaya: Yes, exactly. Her just being there makes me feel so safe, and I’m even happier than I imagined. Even before we were together I thought it would make me so happy, but it’s like those feelings keeps increasing, and I also feel like I don’t measure up to her… I want to keep maturing every day.
Ashizawa: You are ken-6 now, but you have quite a lot of experience with troupe transfers, don’t you. Your debut was with Cosmos Troupe, and then you performed in rotation with Moon and Star Troupes, were assigned to Flower Troupe, then transferred to Star Troupe, and now you have come to your current Snow Troupe. Did you have any opposition to the transfers?
Maaya: Rather than being opposed to it, it made me lonely. It wasn’t that I didn’t want to go, but it was sad to leave the place where I had been.
Ashizawa: But surely you were able to make new friends right away?
Maaya: I suppose so. I would look forward to meeting new people. I didn’t see any point in isolating myself, so if there was something I wanted to ask I would come right out and ask it myself, and if there was something I didn’t understand, I’d go to ask the senior actresses in one of my former troupes. I came to rely on everyone.
Ashizawa: There is the image of musumeyaku as being very modest and ladylike, and always walking three steps behind the otokoyaku, right.
Maaya: It’s not as if I’m really cheerful all the time (laughs).
Ashizawa: So you‘ve ended up feeling depressed as well?
Maaya: Definitely. When I start feeling down it’s a really fierce attack (laughs). But I don’t let people see that I’m feeling depressed. That’s a motto or a policy of mine, I suppose.
Ashizawa: And do those feelings pass quickly?
Maaya: Ah~, not quickly, no. Although inside I’ll be feeling distressed and wanting to get rid of those feelings quickly, I don’t let it show. It’s not something for other people to see.
Ashizawa: What is a unique aspect of ‘Maaya Kiho’ as a performer?
Maaya: What would that be… I’ve often had people tell me that it’s my vitality. They’ll say that my life force overflows from the stage. Or my strength to stand up to things. Directors will often tell me that I bring a lot of energy to the stage. That that life energy gives them high hopes no matter what the role.
Ashizawa: Of course, you like singing the best, correct?
Maaya: Although my singing is often praised, personally I like acting the best. Ever since I was a junior actress, I always wanted to be able to sing during a play, and use my singing to express the emotions of that character; that was my dream. While of course I like singing, I’m not really a ‘singer’, so if I’m singing in a revue scene, I think about how I should sing to express the theme of that scene, and what style I should use for it, and concentrate on that.
Ashizawa: What did you think of the Takarazuka Japanese Dance Recital in October last year?
Maaya: That’s so far in the past, though (laughs).
Ashizawa: It’s really different from other performances, and you are dancing in the midst of a quite solemn atmosphere, it seems.
Maaya: That’s right. I’m bad at traditional Japanese dance, so I was awfully nervous, and I felt like ‘am I really supposed to be in this kind of performance?’
Ashizawa: I think it’s a really valuable experience, even more than being in Japanese-setting plays; it’s not a performance that just anyone can be in.
Maaya: But I thought the Japanese Dance Recital was really totally different from being in Japanese-setting plays. The makeup and such is all totally different, too. I was performing together with Kisaki-san, so we would rehearse together and stress out together, comforting each other and saying ‘Let’s do our best!’ ‘We’ll get through this!’, that kind of thing (laughs).
Ashizawa: Your upcoming national tour has a Japanese-setting play, Makoto no Gunzou. What do you think is the most difficult thing about Japanese-setting plays?
Maaya: Let me see… There are a lot of difficult points, so I think I need to keep studying a lot, starting with the makeup style.