A new stage adaptation of Kurosawa’s Throne of Blood has premiered at the annual Oregon Shakespeare Festival in Ashland, Oregon, United States.
Written and directed by the internationally recognised American theatre artist Ping Chong, it takes Kurosawa’s Shakespeare adaptation and transforms the story onto the stage and into the English language. The production will play in Oregon until October, after which it will appear at the BAM Next Wave Festival in New York.
If you are interested in the new production, for more information check out:
- An interview with Ping Chong
- Oregon Shakespeare Festival’s page for the production (don’t forget to check out the “video” section of the page)
- The festival’s programme for the production (pdf)
- BAM Next Wave Festival’s page for the production (includes a video)
The interview is particularly interesting reading, as is the festival’s programme, which also includes information about Kurosawa, Noh theatre and Shakespeare’s Japanese adaptations.
Update: See the comments section for links to some reviews.
Update 2: Some video footage from the performance can now be found at the festival website. Especially the preview video gives a good glimpse into what the production looks like.
The first review that I have been able to find notes that the production follows Kurosawa’s film very closely. You can read the review here. I’d really love to see this one, as it sounds quite interesting.