Nanige ni Bunshigeki 2024 Launch Commemorative Series <Final Episode> [Toko Sawada]

After the Launch Performance

Text: Toko Sawada

It is over.

A month has passed since the Nanige ni Bunshigeki launch performance, and that is what I am currently reflecting on. To varying degrees, I suspect this same feeling is shared by all sixteen performers.

Saturday, November 16th, Sankei Hall Breeze in Osaka. The energy of the performers the moment the curtain fell on our single performance was incredible. Everyone was shaking hands and hugging their fellow cast members. Taiyo Murasumi, our scriptwriter and director, who had been by our side throughout the rehearsals as a stagehand and would dash over with the script in hand whenever we missed a line, looked on at us in astonishment.

For theater professionals like them, the stage is a part of daily life. But for us, this was a once-in-a-lifetime launch performance of a writers' play. Writers who usually work in solitude gathered every day for the sake of a single performance, saying "see you tomorrow" before parting ways. The fact that we managed to pull off the performance after such intense days was a unique and powerful experience.

Even a month later, people still ask me, "Will there be a rerun?" or "When is the next one?" The performers living in Kyushu have apparently formed a group called the "Nanige-kai." As a member of the executive committee, the fact that so many audience members and performers enjoyed it is a huge success in itself.

However, there is actually one more thing. During the performance, we received archery guidance from the Doshisha Women's College of Liberal Arts Junior and Senior High School archery club, and in return, we invited the students to the dress rehearsal. When Mr. Murasumi and assistant director Takuro Irie visited them later to express our gratitude, the coach told us, "The students who saw the stage performance have all started reading your novels. Including 'After School,' of course."

Sharing a real space with readers and encouraging them to read. Knowing that the goal of the writers' play had truly come to fruition made my heart swell.

"Performers, return to being writers now!"

Makate Asai gave that command at the after-party. We can only do this writers' play because we are writers. So, while harboring a touch of loneliness, we will calmly face our respective works with the memories of the stage in our hearts. Those days might one day lead to the next writers' play.

☆☆☆Announcement☆☆☆
Toko Sawada's latest book, "Kojo Harutari," is now on sale!
Please check it out!

■■■
For details on the performance, including the cast and synopsis, please visit the website below!