Kazue's Theatre Activities in the UK!!

Music Theatre

10-minutes Clown Show at The Bill Murray           24/01/2024

Clown with a black jacket and a green beret : Kazue HORIMSU

Clown with a black striped apron: Devin WU

Clown with a red striped apron: Amy GIBBONS

The clown show by Amy, who studied under Philippe Gaulier, Devin, who studied acting in China, and Kazue, who studied under Toshiharu TAKEUCHI in Japan, was exciting and joyful. This was not an authentic performance but a Work In Progress, so we performed almost entirely in improvisation. It was the first time I experienced that the audience inspired me to create one act after another. I really thanked Devin and Amy.

What is Improvisation and Devising Theatre ?

Site Specific Project With Scenographers                 05/02/2024

Site: Freud Museum London

Scenographers: Gus Kent, Georgios Fytas

Directors: Hao Zheng, Mayaan Haputantri, Kazue Horimasu 

We made a piece with two scenographers of The Royal Central School Of Speech and Central. Their sense of beauty was unique and inspiring. The work was not combination of parts, but chemical reaction of all our ideas and imaginations. We, directors made their installation into a drama. Our group was consist of a Chinese, a Sinhalese, a British, a Greek and a Japanese. So, our show had no lines. It was also imaginative and effective.

5-minute Clown Show With MA Acting International Actors      15/12/2023

" Who is the strongest?"

         Clown Master & Dog: Emily Wollenberg

         Clown Servant(dark hair): Molly Spain

         Clown Trainee(blond hair): Charlotte Rittershofer

　I had never ‘devised a scene’ for a ticket-selling show in Japan. In my Improvisation & Devising Theatre classes, we played games to connect sentences and images, like an association game. But I still felt uneasy. What kind of play structure should I make? The teacher told me that I should first gather the material through the game of Improvisation and create a scene at the end. So, I simply planned to work on the voice for the first two hours of rehearsal, the physical movement for the second, and the scene for the third.

　During the first time, when I had the gibberish workshop, I found these actors could do clowning. They were not trained in clowning. But there is definitely a clown living in them. I took Toshiharu Takeuchi's clowning workshops in Japan for 11 years. First, there was training in masks (neutral and character masks). After that, you could finally learn to clown. I wasn't sure if I could make a clown show in the remaining four hours of the rehearsal. But, they had a keen sensitivity to drama. After the second workshop for the movement, I decided to create a clown show.

　After the show, I had to reflect on the structure of the drama, which was successful because it was only five minutes long, but if I wanted to make it longer, I would have liked a twist or two more. I discovered that the show needs a lot of games, as the clowns use only gibberish without words.

　I was happy to find the great talent of the actors. They have been thoroughly trained in text-based theatre since October. Nevertheless, they participated in the theatre without text and showed their physical imagination. My sincere thanks to them.

This is the British Contemporary Drama Kazue interpreted!

6-minute Scene Study With Young Actors

"Friends! Outcasts. Leeches. Undesirables. A blessing on you, and upon this beggars' banquet."

                            from Jerusalem by Butterworth.

    I had a project to create a scene of no more than six minutes with CertHE student actors. We rehearsed twice for a total of six hours, attempting to take advantage of the energy and positivity of the CertHe actors and to encourage them to develop and maintain playfulness. 

    I decided to use the beginning of Act 2 of Jerusalem, which requires playfulness. However, I also incorporated the beginning of Act 1, where the bureaucrats order the protagonist, Jonny, to leave, as a recollection scene to clarify my basic concept of ‘Outcasts vs Good Citizens’. As a result, Jonny and the others (outcasts) who are camping illegally seem to be seen as an anarchist group - the idea of outcasts remaining the people shunned by society and rebelling against polite, good citizens (not bad people) is not common in the UK, according to the teacher, because they are not rebelling against feudal lords.

    I am very grateful to the actors, the teachers and my colleagues who supported me.

Trial/Rehearsal for Butterworth's JERUSALEM　26/16/2023

1. Grudges of the ancestors who have inhabited the land rise up...
2. However, a good bureaucrat never loses.
3. Get out! Get out!
4. The land is ours!!
5. Director: great!   Actors: of course.
6. Director: it's the most important movement.  Actors: what??

    These are photos of a class.　I am currently having a British Dontemporary class. I had an assignment to choose a scene from a British play and direct it as I liked.

　I chose the beginning of ACT 1 of JERUSALEM. I changed the setting to Japan, and the protagonist Jonny to an old woman. This idea was inspired by the Japanese folklore of 'Yamanba' In poor villages, old people who had reached a certain age were thrown into the mountains, but they did not die and continued to live on in the mountains, becoming 'Yamanba/ Devil Old Woman'.

    The actors in the photos are all students directors, but they kindly took advantage of my and their playfulness. As a resut, it became a conflict between the outcasts group and the good citizens group, which was very funny.

    I would like thank my colleagues for their warm cooperation and Tessa for watching over and advising us. 

Explanation of the letters in the photos

怨念：deep-seated grudge, which is told to stay at the land after their death.

悪霊：Evil Spirit

鬼婆：devil old woman

南無阿弥陀仏：the name of one buddha. A term often raised by the ruled, farmers, etc, when they revolted from the 15 centry onwards. It's like 'God bless us'.