Back in 2017, the Brisbane-based Belloo Creative commenced on a long-term collaboration with both Japan’s IDIOT SAVANT theatre company and New Zealand’s Good Company Arts. The companies met in Japan at the Tokyo Performing Arts Meeting and in 2018 Belloo Creative brought them all to Australia for a first creative development.
In 2020, just prior to the pandemic, they premiered their new work, House in the Dunes, in a 400-year old temple in Yokohama. But the main goal was a show for the Tokyo Tokyo Festival, to coincide with the 2020 Olympics. Of course, by the time the production was slated to begin, the world would be facing the COVID-19 pandemic which would hamper overseas travel, decimate the worldwide performing arts industry and still has no clear trajectory of clearing at the end of 2021.
Not to be deterred the work was not abandoned, merely postponed to 2021 to coincide with the Tokyo Olympics, resulting in a successful season in the small village of Akiruno in July 2021, thereby allowing Belloo to deliver on their vision to provide content globally across artforms that inspire imagination, collaboration and change. Akiruno is the name of a small village, west of Tokyo, in the mountains, where the Blue Herons nest in spring and summer. The all-ages performance is named after the village and was developed in collaboration with their community, including local actors, working alongside the ensemble of IDIOT SAVANT theatre company and artists from Belloo Creative and Good Company Arts over a period of 18 months.
So why mention all this? Today at 1.00pm at the Queensland University of Technology School of Creative Practice, a documentary on the creation of this international theatrical production was released – with the full documentary available above. This documentary was possible through funding from the Australian Government through the Australia-Japan Foundation of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.
Running at just over 20 minutes in length, this document sets out to provide a behind-the-scenes insight into the creative process and what it takes to collaborate. The creative team for the documentary, titled Akiruno: The Making of a Tri-Nation, Transcultural Performance or AKIRUNO – THE DOCUMENTARY, includes:
Concept: Caroline Dunphy & Katherine Lyall-Watson
Filming and Editing: Shaun Charles
Dramaturgical Research: Dr Kathryn Kelly
Original Music: Daniel Belton & Good Company Arts feat. ac Grenfell, Al Fraser and Eliahpt (Aotearoa NZ)
Original Test Film Design & Production Work: Good Company Arts; AKIRUNO rehearsal footage
Interviews: Kintaro Iwakura
