Kuro Tanino / Niwa Gekidan Penino

A visually stunning as well as exciting journey through a japanese hot spring and human abysses.

In the late fall of 2015, a small person and his expressionless son arrive at a traditional Onsen guest house, located by hot springs deep in the mountains of Japan. The two visitors are puppeteers who have been booked to perform by the inn’s owner. Nobody, however, seems to know anything about it. The curious father-son duo spends the night in the Avidya guest house (named after one of the 12 Buddhist causes of human suffering, ignorance). The two meet the residents, who live up the inn’s name as they try to cure their ailments in the hot springs. Fascinated by the strangers, they bare their souls and expose their inner darknesses.

On a hyper-realistic rotating set with hot springs, former psychiatrist and current Japanese theater star Kuro Tanino offers an intimate glimpse into Japanese society – a poetic exploration of suppressed feelings and human repression. Tanino’s theater spaces are visually stunning psychological boxes in which our darkest and most fascinating corners are subtly exposed with few words and big gestures.

Audience discussion on Fri 12th