“Metamorphosis of a Living Room” by chelfitsch to be Performed in Korea to Celebrate the 60th Anniversary of the Normalization of Japan-ROK Relations

The Japan Foundation (JF) will present the work “Metamorphosis of a Living Room” by the Japanese theater company, chelfitsch, at the Seoul Performing Arts Festival (SPAF) in Seoul, Republic of Korea (ROK). This performance is being put on to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the normalization of Japan-ROK relations.

The work is a collaboration between the playwright OKADA Toshiki and composer FUJIKURA Dai. The theatre company, chelfitsch, are constantly evolving their methodology based around a unique relationship between words and the body, and in this work, they present a new way of relating words and sounds by juxtaposing theatrical and musical performances on the stage.

“Metamorphosis of a Living Room” originated from a commission from Wiener Festwochen, which is one of Austria's largest international festivals, and began production in 2021 as part of JF’s International Creations in Performing Arts Program , during which there was a performance of the work in progress. The world premiere of this work was in 2023, accompanied by a European tour, followed by performances in Tokyo in 2024, and then in Kobe and Aichi in 2025.

For the performance in Seoul, local ensemble SYMPHONIC ARMONIA will be performing the music in collaboration with the actors of chelfitsch. We hope that this performance at Korea’s leading international performing arts festival will lead to further cultural exchanges between Japan and Korea.

A view from diagonally left of the stage during a performance, with people playing instruments below the stage.

A performance is being performed from the front, with a string instrument player visible in the center front.

(C) Hideto Maezawa

The work-in-progress from the 2021 International Creations in Performing Arts Project can be viewed on JF’s online performing arts streaming site, “STAGE BEYOND BORDERS.”

The September 2024 performance in Tokyo is available to watch on “THEATRE FOR ALL.”

Performance details

Performance outline

Performance chelfitsch&Dai Fujikura with SYMPHONIC ARMONIA
"Metamorphosis of a Living Room"
Cast Izumi Aoyagi, Chieko Asakura, Riki Ishikura, Mariko Kawasaki, Makoto Yazawa, Manami Watanabe
Music:SYMPHONIC ARMONIA
Schedule Saturday, November 1, 2025, at 7:00 P.M.
Sunday, November 2, 2025, at 7:00 P.M.
Duration 80 minutes
Language Japanese
Subtitles English, Korean
Venue Daehakro Arts Theater Grand Theater
Website

Organizer: The Japan Foundation(JF), Seoul Performing Arts Festival (SPAF)

  • logo of Japan foudation

  • logo of SPAF

  • logo of Japan-Korea 1965-2025


Artist Profile

chelfitsch

The theater company chelfitsch was founded in 1997 by Toshiki Okada, who writes and directs all of its productions. It attracts keen attention as a troupe in the vanguard of contemporary theater because of its constant exploration of method based on the relationship between speech and physical movements. The company made its debut abroad in 2007, when it performed “Five Days in March'' at the Kunstenfestivaldesarts in Brussels, Belgium. It has produced commissioned works such as "Grand and Floor" (2013) by Kunstenfestivaldesarts, "Super Premium Soft Double Vanilla Rich" (2017) by Theater der Welt 2014 (Germany), “NEW ILLUSION” (2022) by Ob/Scene Festival, “Metamorphosis of a Living Room” (2023) by Wiener Festwochen (Austria), and co-produced works with theaters and festivals. It has been invited to and performed works in more than 90 cities around the world.

Recently, Toshiki Okada, together with Shimpei Yamada, a stage and video designer, has begun to develop EIZO-Theater, a new type of theater that is an attempt to transform display space into theatrical space by the effects that projected images have on human sensibility. They have presented the exhibitions “Beach, Eyelids, and Curtains” (2018), “The Landscape, the World, and Accidents: Everything That Happens Outside of This Room” (2020) and the theatrical performance “NEW-ILLUSION”(2022) as EIZO-Theater.

The troupe has proactively collaborated with musicians and artists. It collaborated with the artist Teppei Kaneuji in the production of “Eraser Mountain” (2019) and “Eraser Forest” (2020), which probe for a new relationship between objects and human beings based on the concept of departure from anthropocentrism. It premiered a new music theatre “Metamorphosis of a Living Room'', collaborated with the composer Dai Fujikura, in Wiener Festwochen in May 2023. In 2021, it launched a workshop with people whose native language is not Japanese and premiered “The Window of Spaceship 'In-Between'” in August 2023.

Toshiki Okada

Portrate of Toshiki Okada
(c) Kikuko Usuyama
Playwright, director, and novelist Toshiki Okada began gaining recognition in 1997 when he founded the theatre company chelfitsch, creating works that explore the unique relationship between language and the body. In 2007, he made his international debut with <Five Days in March> at the Kunstenfestivaldesarts in Brussels.

Since then, he has presented work in over 90 cities across Asia, Europe, North and South America. Since 2016, he has regularly collaborated with national and public theatres in Germany, continuing to premiere new works. Two of his notable productions <The Vacuum Cleaner> (2020, Münchner Kammerspiele) and <Doughnuts> (2022, Thalia Theater Hamburg) were both selected as part of the 10 Remarkable Productions by the Berliner Theatertreffen, receiving critical acclaim.

He received the 27th Yomiuri Theater Awards Selection Committee Special Prize for his work, <Pratthana - A Portrait of Possession>, a stage adaptation of a contemporary Thai novel featuring Thai actors. His work <Unfulfilled Ghost and Monster - ZAHA / TSURUGA> (KAAT Kanagawa Arts Theater), which utilises the narrative structure of noh(能), won the Yomiuri Prize for Literature (Play/Scenario Award) and the Tsuruya Namboku Drama Award. In 2021, he directed the opera <Yuzuru(夕鶴)> (All Japan Opera Co-Production Project), expanding his artistic scope.

Also active as a novelist, he published <The End of the Moment We Had> in 2007, which won the 2nd Kenzaburō Prize. In 2022, he received the 35th Mishima Yukio Prize and the 64th Kumanichi Literary Award for his novel <Broccoli Revolution> (Shinchōsha), solidifying his position as a prominent writer in the literary world.

Dai Fujikura

Portrate of Dai Fujikura
(c) SISI BURN
Dai Fujikura is a London-based composer that was born in Osaka, Japan in 1977. He moved to the UK at fifteen and studied under Sir George Benjamin.

In 2020, Fujikura's opera "A Dream of Armageddon," based on H.G. Wells' story of the same name, premiered at the New National Theatre Tokyo and was widely acclaimed. That same year, his Fourth Piano Concerto, "Akiko's Piano," commemorated the 75th anniversary of the Hiroshima bombing and was released by Sony Music. His work "Entwine" has been performed by orchestras including the WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln and the New York Philharmonic. His orchestral work "Wavering World" was commissioned by the Seattle Symphony and performed by other notable orchestras around the globe.

His music theatre piece "Metamorphosis of a Living Room," in collaboration with theatre director Toshiki Okada, was staged in several citie. Fujikura has presented three operas: "SOLARIS" (2015), co-commissioned by several European opera houses; "The Gold-Bug" (2018), commissioned by Theatre Basel; and "A Dream of Armageddon" commissioned by New National Theatre Tokyo (2020). His collaborations span various genres, working with artists like Ryuichi Sakamoto and David Sylvian. For the film "Mitsubachi to Enrai" (LISTEN TO THE UNIVERSE), he composed "Spring and Asura." Fujikura has composed for traditional Japanese instruments as well as European period instruments. Since 2017 he has been the Artistic Director of the Born Creative Festival at Tokyo Metropolitan Theatre. He also curated concerts at La Folle Journée au Japon in 2016 and 2019. His music has been recorded on labels such as NMC, Kairos, Sony Music, and Fujikura’s own record label, Minabel Records. He has received numerous prestigious awards, including the Ivor Novello Award and the Silver Lion from the Venice Biennale.


【Contact Us】

The Japan Foundation (JF)
Performing Arts Section, Arts and Culture Dept.
Persons in Charge: Kawai (Ms.), Matsuoka (Mr.)
E-mail: pa@jpf.go.jp
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