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Suguru Yamamoto

やまもと すぐる

Yamamoto Suguru

Pen Names: Suguru Yamamoto（Stage name formed by adding a character to his legal name (Yamamoto Suguru)）

Profile

Gender
Male
Born
1987-06-09 （Yamanashi Prefecture, Japan）
Nationality
Japan
Languages
Japanese

Career

Occupations
playwright, director, actor, theatre company artistic director
Active Years
2007-
Nominations
'Umaretenai kara Mada Shinenai' — Finalist, 59th Kishida Kunio Drama Award, 'Sono Yoru to Tomodachi' — Finalist, 62nd Kishida Kunio Drama Award, 'Banana no Hana wa Taberareru' — Finalist and Winner, 66th Kishida Kunio Drama Award

Education

J. F. Oberlin University (Obirin University)
School of Cultural Studies / Theatre Department
Period: 2007-
Country: Japan
Founded the theatre company 'Hanchu-yuei' while enrolled

Awards

Bangkok Theatre Festival Best Original Script
2014
Work: Youjo X
Category: 脚本
Organization: Bangkok Theatre Festival
Result: winner
Bangkok Theatre Festival Best Play
2014
Work: Youjo X
Category: 作品賞
Organization: Bangkok Theatre Festival
Result: winner
Nagoya Campus Festival Grand Prize
2009
Work: Toumei Jupiko Mokusatsu Jiken
Organization: Nagoya Campus Festival
Result: winner
Theatre Green Student Arts Festival Excellence Award
2008
Work: Bishoujo H no Ninki
Organization: Theatre Green Student Arts Festival
Result: winner
Kishida Kunio Drama Award (66th)
2022
Work: You Can Eat the Banana Flower
Organization: Kishida Kunio Drama Award Committee
Result: winner

Awards & Nominations

Works

Major Works

Youjo X

2013 play (theatre)

A play combining projected text and actors to explore communication in the mobile/texting generation and contemporary urban life.

communicationurban lifetechnology and humanity
Adaptations
  • [stage (international productions)] Youjo X (Thai production) / タナポン・ウィルンハグン / Suguru Yamamoto (co-director credit varies) (2014)
  • [stage (co-production, Malaysia)] Gadis X (Malaysian version) / Ayam Fared（共同演出） (2014)

Umaretenai Kara Mada Shinenai

2014 play

A powerful script that questions individual existence, life and death, and ethics before the audience.

life and deathethicsindividual identity

That Night and Friends

2018 play

A work depicting human relationships, loneliness, and the emotional shifts born in the night.

friendshiplonelinessnight

You Can Eat the Banana Flower

2022 play

A play that captures aspects of contemporary society from an original perspective; winner of the Kishida Kunio Drama Award.

contemporary societyfamilycultural fragments

Bibliography

  • Youjo X
  • Umaretenai Kara Mada Shinenai
  • That Night and Friends
  • You Can Eat the Banana Flower

Adaptations

  • Youjo X (international stagings in Thailand, Malaysia, etc.)

Style & Themes

Literary Style
visual staging combining projected text, images, light and shadow with actorsintense scripts that challenge the audience's ethical senses
Recurring Motifs
overlapping projections and textindividual loneliness and communication breakdownfragments of urban daily life

Legacy

A playwright and director noted domestically and internationally for his projection-based staging and ethically probing scripts. Winning the Kishida Kunio Drama Award has increased his influence on contemporary theatre.

Quotes

  • He has said his stage name was formed by adding a kanji to his real name to make it more unusual.
    Source: Wikipedia (entry for Suguru Yamamoto)

Trivia

  • Legal name is Yamamoto Suguru; stage name adds one kanji to become 'Suguru Suguru'.
  • He is the founder and artistic director of the troupe Hanchu-yuei.
  • As of 2021 he is married and a father of one; his wife is stage producer Momo Sakamoto.