Kabuki-za to be rebuilt from 2010

Written by Writer on Sunday, October 26th, 2008

Kabuki-za to be rebuilt from 2010

The Kabuki-za theater, which has long been regarded as the principal theater in Tokyo for kabuki, will be torn down and rebuilt after its final performances in April 2010, Shochiku Co., the operator of the theater, has announced.

Officials at Shochiku said the construction of a new theater complex on the current site, in the Ginza area of Chuo Ward, Tokyo, is expected to take three years.

The theater, which is modeled on the architecture of the Azuchi-Momoyama period (1568-1600), opened in 1925. After damage sustained in World War II, it reopened in 1951.

According to Tadashi Abiko, managing director of Shochiku, the current theater was built when construction materials were limited and as such its earthquake resistance is questionable.

Abiko also pointed out that the theater is not user-friendly from the perspective of the disabled and the elderly.

To mark the closing of the theater, a series of performances titled “Kabuki-za Sayonara Koen” (Kabuki-za Farewell Performances), featuring popular actors and programs, will be held from January until April 2010.

The company said that from April 2010 until the new theater’s scheduled reopening in 2013, kabuki performances would be held at the Shinbashi Enbujo theater, anther theater the company operates in the same ward, while other performances would be staged at locations outside Tokyo, including the Minami-za theater in Kyoto.

These measures are expected to help stem the operational losses resulting from the closure of Shochiku’s premier theater.

Kabuki-za theater is a government registered cultural asset and monument, but a spokesman from the Cultural Affairs Agency said permission for the demolition and rebuilding of the theater had been granted.
(Oct. 26, 2008)