Salut! was a 2019 GRAPH feature interviewing young performers. Ren’s was published in March.
Salut! – Ren Tsukasa, Moon Troupe
Please start by introducing yourself!
I’m Ren Tsukasa, from Moon Troupe. My nicknames are Renkon or Konochan, and I’m from Oosaki, in Miyagi Prefecture. Actually, I’m the only currently performing otokoyaku from Miyagi Prefecture. When I was little my voice was so loud I didn’t even know how to whisper, and if there was a ‘loudness ranking’ for Moon Troupe I’d confidently put myself at the top (laughs). My special skill is that once I’ve been somewhere once I can always get there again! Even if it’s somewhere I’ve never been before I can get there without getting lost as long as I have a map. My hobbies are cooking and eating delicious foods.
What is the reasoning behind your stage name?
I thought about it with my brother. The lotus [‘蓮’, one reading is ‘Ren’] can put down strong roots and bloom into a beautiful flower, even in the mud, so I use the character ‘Ren’ to express my desire to bloom onstage even if I go through hard times. I settled on ‘Tsukasa’ since it goes well with ‘Ren’ and is easy to remember, so there’s no particular meaning to it (laughs)
What was your original motivation for entering Takarazuka?
While I was thinking about what I wanted to do in the future, I thought I’d like to work onstage, as I’d been in community musical theatre since I was in elementary school. At that same time, I happened to see a Takarazuka show on TV and fell for Sou Kazuho-san, so I started to think ‘I want to join, what do I do to join’.
In your GRAPH column last year, REN’S KITCHEN (97th class classmates column) your classmates often called you ‘diligent’, but what do you think?
That’s right, I think I’m basically like that (laughs). I hate imperfection, and I hate losing, so when it comes to the arts I can be very stoic. But I like making people happy, and I can suddenly lose it, so I have those sides too.
What are you like off stage?
When we all go to have fun somewhere I’ll still end up moving really briskly, so I don’t change that much on or off stage, whether that’s in a good way or a bad way (laughs). I don’t like wasting time, so I’m the type who wants to schedule activities even for a day off. But I can suddenly become completely lazy, too (laughs)
What are you into lately?
That little yellow egg bread they sell at convenience stores! Also, these snacks called ‘Korokke no Manma’1 are a big hit with me, I eat them all the time.
In ON THE TOWN, you took on a female role for the first time when you played Claire de Lune. How was that?
I couldn’t picture it at all, personally, so at first I was really lost. When I tried acting it myself, I discovered how the musumeyaku perform even more femininity than real women, and how much harder it was to be feminine than I thought, so I realized I had a lot to learn… Also, when interacting with an otokoyaku as my acting partner, I made a lot of new discoveries: ‘this is how I look to them, doing things like this looks beautiful’, etc. It was hard to learn how to use my voice and things like that in such a short time, so I struggled, but I’ve never had people tell me I was cute so much (laughs), so it was fun.
What kind of otokoyaku do you want to become in the future?
Right now I’m puzzling over a lot of things, and I haven’t settled on any one thing. However, I want to be an otokoyaku who has the knowhow necessary to flexibly take on any role, from villains and old men to comic relief and even female roles. But I also feel like it’s important to me as an otokoyaku to become someone people can describe as ‘cool’.
Finally, give us some self-promotion!
I hope to clearly show my own individuality as I polish my skills as an otokoyaku. However, I’m still searching for that ‘thing only I have’, so please look forward to that from me in the future (laughs).