HOKIUTA

About the show

*<Hogiwuta>* is the prelude to *Hogiwuta*, written by Shōji Terayama, one of Japan’s most prominent contemporary playwrights. It was written in 1972 and first performed in 1979. Since its premiere, it has been staged in numerous theaters and has established itself as an important work of modern Japanese theater. Although the play was written 50 years ago, the issues it addresses—war, refugees, and the climate crisis—resonate strikingly with the present day. Set against the conflict between the scorching sun and the freezing cold of the Ice Age, the play explores the weighty theme of the end of humanity through a uniquely distinctive and humorous sense of the absurd.