Originally published on metropolis.co.jp on June 2010

Courtesy of the Japan Performing Arts Foundation

BeSeTo (short for Beijing, Seoul, Tokyo) represents an attempt by Japan, China and South Korea to deepen interaction among performing artists. The current program includes, among others, a cross-cultural Cyrano de Bergerac as performed by the Suzuki Company of Toga (directed by Tadashi Suzuki); a traditional Chinese opera rendering of Eugene O’Neill’s Desire Under the Elms; King Lear as staged by the contemporary Korean theater company Michoo and directed by Byung-Hoon Lee; and a new trilingual adaptation of Tokyo Note written and directed by acclaimed playwright Oriza Hirata.

BeSeTo Theater Festival
June 29-July 19, various times and prices. New National Theatre Tokyo, Hatsudai; Komaba Agora Theater and other venues. Tel: 03-3445-8011. www.beseto.org/17th