"Minamata is the name of a fishing village in Japan," said the writer-director ("Peep Show," "Eva Peron," "Rusty Sat on a Hill One Dawn and Watched the Moon Go Down"), who wrote the piece with Mira-Lani Oglesby. "Chisso, a company that makes parts for plastic, dumped mercury waste into the water supply and the fishermen got sick. A high percentage of the villages depended on fish and fishing so their livelihoods dried up too. "The story of Minamata is just the departure point for the play," the writer said. "It's the ghost behind the play, the shadow over it. The piece is a meditation on beliefs, ways of thinking, how operatives in the system create a way of thinking that makes it possible to destroy life in order to improve it. There's a thesis that in order to progress you have to allow for destruction. No. You cannot buy into that way of thinking, because it's erroneous and hurtful."
Related Movies
Years of Pilgrimage: The Wandering Soul of Franz Liszt / Fashionable Empire (2022)
YEARS OF PILGRIMAGE: Franz Liszt was a virtuoso pianist that took early nineteenth-century Europe by storm. He conquered the Parisian salons with passionate performances marked by excellent technique and handsome features that became the downfall of many women. But what was he truly after? The musical narrates the story of Liszt's early years, and his pilgrimage across Europe in an attempt to find a place where his soul could belong, focusing on the romance with the Countess Marie d'Agoult, and his greatest friend and rival, Chopin. FASHIONABLE EMPIRE: A revue that transforms the stage into the "Empire" where the pioneering fashionistas of our time gather. The stylish array of scenes will enchant the audience, at times with the cool atmosphere, and at times with the hot beats. While focusing on the sophisticated and metropolitan appeal of top star Yuzuka Rei this revue also shows off the unique, scintillating members of Flower Troupe through many groovy scenes.
The Seagull (2017)
What if Konstantin Gavrilovich, from Anton Chekkov's famous play, did not commit suicide and was murdered instead? And who did it? Boris Akunin's take on The Seagull unfolds as a comedic murder mystery.
Quotations From a Ruined City (1993)
Quotations From a Ruined City was first performed as a workshop production for the Los Angeles Festival in a former shoe store on Hollywood Boulevard. The production subsequently moved to a vacant pajama factory in New York's meatpacking district and went on to be presented by multiple European presenters. It was Abdoh's final work. "Quotations from a Ruined City is a sort of apocalyptic follies: an evening of song, dance, poetry, nudity and torture set in a world whose center has clearly long ceased to hold. Created and directed by the gifted young theatrical cult artist Reza Abdoh, the work is a kaleidoscopic catalogue of images of decay and destruction that range through the centuries and around the globe."--New York Times, 1994.
A Budding Heart (2012)
Mathan, 19, arrives in Paris with Jacques, a famous gay writer in his 50s. Then arises the sexy Olivier, flamboyant thirty, friend of Jacques. How will Mathan get out of the clutches of this "old" couple? Desires, doubts, seduction and jealousy, the ingredients of a tender and insolent comedy on the shock of generations and the question of the couple over time.
Premiere Night (1918)
When her husband, an aspiring poet, gets his theatrical script rejected, Agnes Holck decides to take matters into her own hands. With the script in hand, she seeks out theatre director Viggo Reyner who takes an interest – not in the play, but in Agnes herself! However, his former favourite actress Lily Werner, doesn’t like being ignored. While the director is working on the seduction of Agnes, she cooks up some sinister revenge plans with fatal consequences. (Stumfilm.dk)
Cesium-137 (1990)
In 1987, in Goiânia, two paper collectors find a radioactive capsule and sell it to the owner of a junkyard. Once the capsule is opened, more than 250 people end up contaminated by the substance called Cesium 137, being the biggest radiological accident in the history of Brazil.
The Dust Factory (2004)
Ryan is a teenager who lacks the ability to speak. One day, Ryan falls off a bridge and he finds himself transported to a strange fantasy world where he encounters his Grandpa Randolph and a pretty girl named Melanie; together, Ryan and Melanie learn to help one another with their problems, and they both discover the wisdom they can gain from elders like Grandpa Randolph.
La mort de Molière (1994)
A collaboration in which Robert Wilson and Heiner Müller let Molière die, imagine his death in tableaux with text passages recited by Müller himself. "Cinema watches Death at work." Wilson's actors watch Molière die: their vigil is hard work. Müller's comment: "The poem watches a dying man at work, his name is Molière. The poem is not a film. The film watches an actor playing a dying man called Molière."
La Belle Époque (2019)
Victor, a disillusioned 60-something whose marriage is on the rocks, opts to relive the week of his life when, 40 years earlier, he met his true love through a company that allows customers to return to the time period of their choosing.
National Theatre Collection: Hamlet (2022)
This National Theatre Production was filmed for the National Theatre Archive in November 2022. ‘To be or not to be…’ Hamlet’s dad is dead. His uncle has taken over the kingdom and married Hamlet’s mum. The whole world feels like it’s turned upside down. A ghostly encounter reveals a dreadful deed has been done. Should Hamlet take revenge? ‘That is the question.’ Join us for this energetic and engaging retelling of Shakespeare’s most well-known tragedy.
Macbeth, One After the Last Scene (2023)
A theater actor who is taking a part as Macbeth finds himself lost in the role.
Bicycle Thief (2023)
A rustic comedy about a small-town bowling alley entrepreneur who learns that being scammed is not the end of the world.
The Death Ward (1989)
Tawfiq imports spoiled food for children which causes thousands of children to fall ill. Despite the efforts of the journalist Nabila to expose him, he is able to escape abroad, so the officer in charge, Fouad, decides to take the law into his own hands.
Phantom (2006)
2006 Takarazuka Revue Flower Troupe production of Maury Yeston and Arthur Kopit's "Phantom."
All the Words on the Page (2024)
Arlo, a dyslexic actor, seems to be auditioning well. That is until he’s asked to perform a new monologue.
