This roundtable ahead of the Don Juan revival performance features Ikuta Hirokazu, Towaki Sea, and Hoshizora Misaki.
Don Juan Roundtable Talk
Participants: Ikuta Hirokazu (Director), Towaki Sea, Hoshizora Misaki
Ikuta: Don Juan’s first Japanese production was 8 years ago with Snow Troupe, and it’s also had 2 [Japanese] productions outside of Takarazuka. For this production, I’m so happy and thankful to have the chance to confront my past self, take a new look at the work, and bring it back to life with a new cast. Also, I’m delighted that this Misonoza production will be the first performance for Flower Troupe’s new Top Combi, Towaki and Hoshizora.
Towaki: In the premiere production, I played Rafael, Maria’s fiance who duels Don Juan, but back then I really couldn’t do anything. I had no idea what I was doing, but I got this big role with lots of songs… Director Ikuta, you told me “You have to fill in the gap between the ideal of what you want to become and how you want to perform with the reality of your own skills.” I still haven’t forgotten that.
Ikuta: I still remember where in the rehearsal room and when I said that. How did it feel?
Towaki: It hurt. But not because a director told me that, it hurt that I was that incapable. So for these last 8 years, the whole time I’ve been working to narrow the gap between my ideal and my own skills. And I kept thinking about how much I wanted to take another stab at Don Juan, and how nice it would be if it came my way again. It’s a show I have such strong bonds with (laughs), I just love it.
Ikuta: (laughs)
Towaki: (to Hoshizora) I always talk about how I examine my approach to acting and creating a show, and this was the show where that started.
Hoshizora: !!
Towaki: So it’s not exaggerating to say that I’m only who I am now because of Don Juan. I’m happy to have this second encounter with it.
Hoshizora: In the last national tour, where I played Carmen, you told me that Miho (Keiko)’s performance as Isabela in Don Juan [2016] would be great inspiration. So that’s what I was thinking about when I watched it, and it was a big surprise to get to be in it.
Towaki: At the poster photoshoot, when you came in as Maria, I suddenly felt that you had developed your complete ‘form’ as Hoshizora Misaki, and I felt like I could really rely on you. I felt really strongly that as an actor your axis or your core, or something, had solidified.
Hoshizora: Not at all (looking embarassed).
Ikuta: We’ve only just started rehearsals, but how do you feel after the table reading?
Towaki: I now realize that even though I was in the cast 8 years ago I didn’t understand anything about the show. Not even the meaning of the ghost’s existence or his role in the story… Also, [in 2016] I had the impression that Don Juan was this horribly cruel person and everyone else was normal, but [this time] I felt that everyone has their own lusts and jealousies that they’re chasing after, so actually they’re all ‘extreme’ (laughs).
Ikuta: Exactly.
Towaki: It’s a simple story, but very deep once you get into it. It feels so worth it, and it’s enjoyable, but I’m once again realizing how difficult it is.
Hoshizora: When I watched the video of the first production, it was this story in a faraway country, and the themes about people loving each other also felt really remote from where I was. Then when I actually read the script, the themes of love and attachment seemed to fit right next to each other, and felt very close to me, like they could happen every day. Also, since there’s a lot of dialogue about sculpting, I think I’ll understand a lot of it better if I experience it for myself, so I want to create everything carefully in a natural way.
Ikuta: You went all the way to Hokkaido to take a sculpting class, is that right?
Hoshizora: Yes, I learned so much there.
Towaki: Were you able to hear the voice in the stone?
Hoshizora: I wasn’t able to hear it (laughs). But when I went to another stonecarving studio the next day, they told me they could hear it.
Ikuta: For this revival production, I took new inspiration from the line in one of the songs where they say Don Juan is ‘a man as cold as stone’, and Maria’s work being to breathe life into stone, and rearranged the show around that. Also, the connection between Don Juan and Maria is now more spiritual, so it’s shifted a little to be expressed in more platonic ways. And then the sets have also changed a lot.
Towaki: I thought Don Juan never possessed any capability for love. But it exists, he just can’t see it. That’s one of my big realizations today, that maybe he doesn’t understand love and has been living in a world without it.
Ikuta: Through Maria’s love, he’s able to get back some of what he originally had. But the only way he can demonstrate this [love] is to throw his life away; that’s his tragedy and his foolishness. One of the major themes is why he chooses to die in the end.
Towaki: I hope I can find my way [to that answer] myself soon, but…
Hoshizora: I also don’t really understand yet…why he would choose to die.
Ikuta: I’ll tell you one thing. I think that he chooses to burn his life out so that he can prove he’s a human who knows what love is. And as for who he’s trying to prove it to…he’s trying to prove it to himself. It’s fine if you don’t get it yet. I think you’ll need to trust some of that to the audience’s imagination, rather than spelling everything out for them. I want you to carefully preserve that liminal space between your expressions and the audience’s imagination.
Towaki, Hoshizora: Yes.
Hoshizora: I’m starting to get so stressed out listening to you two talk about all these things…
Towaki: It’s okay, I don’t get it yet either. And I feel like Maria is a difficult role.
Ikuta: That’s right. If you take one step wrong, Maria comes off like a terrible woman, but she isn’t actually like that. She’s an artist who follows her instincts, I think those are really important and some of her good points.
Hoshizora: (nods)
Ikuta: I want this to be the summer of Don Juan in everyone’s minds.
Towaki: I think it will be. This is Flower Troupe’s first performance in the Misono-Za theatre, and I think the crimson theatre1 fits the show perfectly.
Ikuta: I do think we can lean on the theatre to help us bring people into the world of the show. Also, The food in Nagoya is amazing (laughs).
All: (laugh)
Hoshizora: With this new production, even those who were in the original run are starting with us from zero and giving everything as they engage with the show. Even though the songs might be familiar, I want to make sure I don’t just coast along on vibes, but keep myself disciplined and put everything I have into the show. I feel like I have to approach this carefully, really carefully. Not getting flustered, but just dealing with what I have to deal with properly. I’ll put all my heart into creating this show while making sure I’m heading in the same direction as Towaki.
Towaki: (looking at Hoshizora) This show will be a turning point for us, as well as the whole troupe. I think there will be a lot of new challenges for everyone from Flower. Maybe there are some girls who did flamenco in DANCE OLYMPIA? Ah, and of course we have the person who was just stamping all over the stage in Carmen! (laughs)
Hoshizora: (shakes her head)
Towaki: (laughs) I thought that maybe I liked this show too much and it would make it a struggle in the revival, but now that I’m actually engaging with it there’s so many new things I’m figuring out, so in the table reading today I was able to see it like a new show. And it’s so reassuring to have Junko (Ema Naoki) and (Miho) Keiko from the first production coming back to help us. I want to be totally fired up, and at the same time rely on the creative staff and everyone else around us. I’m sure I’ll feel the pressure, but I want to enjoy creating this performance.
Ikuta: Right, I think enjoying the creative process might be the most important point. If you’re having fun it will open up your heart. While you’re performing, if your heart is closed off to the character, you won’t be able to hear their voice. Even before thinking about engaging with the audience, I want you not to lose sight of the people and things inside your heart. You need to remember the foundational feelings of why you want to make the audience enjoy their experience. There’s a word in the flamenco world, ‘duende‘. It’s hard to translate into Japanese, but it means a kind of allure that’s almost like divine possession, almost impossible to resist. So the question is, beyond that theory or the word itself, how can we permeate our production with ‘duende‘. First of all, I hope we can have a welcoming rehearsal space, with everyone taking care of their health and not getting injured.
Towaki, Hoshizora: Thank you very much!
1 – Much of the Misono-Za entrance and interior features bright red color design.