This book is a memoir of Aran Kei’s time as a member of Takarazuka, as well as her post-Takarazuka career and memories of her childhood. It was published in 2010 to commemorate the 20th year of her stage career. It also features messages from Takarazuka classmates and other colleagues and theatre artists she has worked with.
Some paragraph breaks have been added to make it more readable in English. I have also collected archival images from many sources.
Message From Ninagawa Yukio – “She is as strong as Cleopatra herself.”
Ninagawa was born in Saitama. In 1955 he joined the Young Actors’ Theatre. In 1969 he made his debut as a director with Genuine Frivolity. Since then, he has directed a huge variety of works, from Ancient Greek myths to modern plays, both domestically and abroad. Inspired by his 1983 play Queen Medea’s performances in Greece and Rome, he has produced plays abroad every year, and has received high praise internationally. In 2011 he won Best Director in the Yomiuri Newspaper Theatre Awards for his productions of Henry VI and Legend of the Beauties.
Aran Kei is a delight to work with, as someone who can interact openly and, in the human sense, nakedly. And she’s far more skilled than I first thought (laughs). She has boldness like a stray dog running barefoot around the fields: she has the strength of Cleopatra herself. Her purity and rejection of ostentation gives her a sparkling charisma and an abundance of humanity.
That she is public about being a third-generation Zainichi Korean is the same. Since there have been many Zainichi Koreans in my circles, I believe that I understand something of their perseverance. It’s a difficult position under normal circumstances, and being in the unique world of Takarazuka must have made everything even harder.
Seeing her, everyone around her wants to support her. I’m also one of her supporters, in a way. Even the Korean performances of Antony and Cleopatra were something I settled on because I thought it would be an excellent opportunity for Aran to add her own thread to the cloth of her homeland.
Though in past eras, women were expected to be modest and bear everything, now is the era for women to lead. I feel certain that Aran has the flexibility to solve or overcome everything in her way and continue pushing forward.
Though Antony and Cleopatra is currently in rehearsals, Aran already brings a great sense of freshness to the rehearsal room with her earnestness and diligence. In this play, I hope to make Aran into the kind of woman who can toy with the playboy [Yoshida] Kotaro [who plays Mark Antony].
Translator’s note: Ninagawa passed in 2016, 5 years after the publication of the book.