Another Day at the Office

It is another day at the Kazenoko office. The producers are at their desks in one room, busily working away (an operation which is expertly conducted by the Mother Theresa like Suehiro-san). A bunch of the younger Kazenoko actors are in the rehersal/ meeting room (where we had the party the other night) carrying out a mega mail out ... there is something comforting about the fact that no matter how much technology progresses, the best way to conduct a mail out no matter where you are in the world is with a chain of people folding, stuffing and stamping.

I have come to meet Asano-san to discuss my schedule and find her at the kitchen sink, having a cigarette. It turns out the schedule that she has prepared for me involves a lot of travel. I will be following various Kazenoko Kyushu plays around the island, first of all travelling with Furato Burato to Oshima and Kagoshima. Then I will return to Fukuoka (where Kazenoko Kyushu are based) to conduct a clowning workshop for the company members (feeling a bit daunted about running whe workshop in Japanese but I am sure we will get by... it is clown afterall!). And following this I will travel to Nagasaki with Nan Nan Nande Man and then head up to Tokyo with the company where I will get to see Peekaboo as well as The Day His Watch Stopped (to be presented by visiting Korean Theatre Company, Sadari).

While Asano and I have our very casual meeting, various company members come and go (we are in the kitchen, after all). Suehiro comes in at about lunch time and asks it I have eaten `mada desu` (not yet) I say and she offers me an `Obentoo` (lunch box) she has prepared for me; I cannot refuse. We are joined by young producers Igarashi-san and Mei-san as well as accountant Emi-san. Everyone opens their Obentos and as we eat we chat about non theatre things. It feels like lunch time at the deBASE office back in Brisbane.

After lunch I am joined by Hayashi-san who has brought the Kijimuna Festival Program with him. This is the International Children`s Theatre Festival that I will be attending in Okinawa from 1- 10th August. Hayashi-san will also be attending the Festival and is keen to help me select the shows that I plan to see before they book out. The only problem is the program is in Japanese and it is hard to understand (whilst I can speak the language, reading is a whole other world of difficulty because of Kanji). Hayashi-san, who speaks Englsih and seems to work unofficially as the international relations manager for the company, attending festivals all over the world, tells me he will phone the festival and ask for a program in English.

The next　day when I arrive at the Kazenoko office, there is a progam for the festival, translated into English waiting for me on the kitchen table. I ask, `Is it from the festival?` and Sue-hiro san says `Chigau, Kore ha, Hayashi - san ga Tsukutta Program` (No this is one that Hayashi- san made for you). It seems that after I left the office yesterday, Hayashi-san spent the afternoon, translating the program for me.

Somehow, I don`t think a stuffed kangaroo made in China will be the right present for Hayashi-san, I might need to look deeper into my backpack of treasures to find a way to thank him.