Rakugo Comedy with Utazo Katsura

Tue 19 Oct 2010, 8 pm – Rakugo will be conducted in English
Vietnam Contemporary Song, Dance and Music Theatre
Entrance at 16 Le Thai To or 79 Hang Trong, Hanoi

Wed 20 Oct 2010, 6. 30 pm – Rakugo will be conducted in Japanese with Vietnamese sub-titles
8F, Building E, Hanoi University of Social Science & Humanities
336 Nguyen Trai, Thanh Xuan, Hanoi

Rakugo Master Utazo Katsura will bravely try to convey the funny stories in English, as well as in Japanese with Vietnamese sub-titles. You will enjoy the “Made in Japan” jokes and punch lines through Utazo’s challenging performance.

Rakuko is a Japanese traditional verbal entertainment. A solo storyteller, sitting on the stage, equipped only with a paper fan sensu and small cloth tenugui as props, depicts long and complicated comical stories without standing up from the sitting position. As the stories are all spoken in Japanese, there have always been language barriers for foreigners to fully enjoy Rakugo performance.

Masterpieces of Rakugo stories as “Time Noodle” (Toki-soba), “Gonsuke’s Fish” (Gonsuke-zakana) will be performed on stage. The highlight is the performance of “The Tree-Head Man” (Atama-yama) which will be delivered in an avant-garde style with rock music. The fusion of traditional story and contemporary style is one of Utazo’s unique attempts to make Rakugo funny in a different way.

Tickets

Tickets are free and available at the Japan Foundation Center for Cultural Exchange in Vietnam (27 Quang Trung) from 10 am on Friday 08 Oct 2010.

Japan Foundation Center for Cultural Exchange in Vietnam 27 Quang Trung Hoàn Kiếm, Hà Nội Tel: 3944 7419 www.jpf.org.vn