Kayon's Osaka: On the Trail Of Hidden Treasures
File #15

Lowo=Tar=Voga@xx Vol.1: Huyuu Dairiten in Nara
Cafe/Bar and Gallery
606-17 Sanjo-cho, Nara (2 min. from JR Nara Station)
Tel/fax: 0742-27-9551
http://huyuu.com/top.htm
e-mail:info@huyuu.com
Cafe:11:00-17:00/Bar:17:00-23:00
Closed Mon. (except on national holidays, when the
shop is closed on Tue.)

For information on Huyuutai art:
http://kurage.huyuu.com/

Lowo=Tar=Voga Performance Tour: isotope
Oct. 12-Jan. 4 (ten venues, 16 performances)
http://www.ne.jp/asahi/ltv/net/
Sun. Oct. 12: Togei Hachiman Kobo: Gallery Hachi
658 Nogami-cho, Kaiso-gun, Wakayama Prefecture (073-489-4004)
Sat. Dec. 27 & Sun. Dec. 28: Next Stage=Replay!
Sun. Oct. 19: Caravan Serai, Himeji (0792-21-8585)
Sun. Oct. 26: Machi Sanso Jazz Shot Bar, Tennoji, Osaka (06-6775-1415)
*Enjoy dinner as you watch the performance.
Sun. Nov. 9: Huyuu Dairiten
606-17 Sanjo-cho, Nara (0742-27-9551)
*With one drink.

The Osaka drama company Lowo=Tar=Voga launched a new tour on Oct. 10 (Sun.) at Togei Kobo Hachi, a galley owned by a young couple who are potters on top of a mountain in Wakayama. The tour is set to continue until early next year. There will be 16 performances at ten venues throughout Kansai (Himeji, Osaka, Nara, Kyoto, Kobe) on weekends. Just like me, the group will be making the rounds of the area's venues! I have been developing my sense of live spots and would really like to have gone with the group on the entire tour, but my job makes it impossible to travel, so I will be going to as many as I can - eight performances at six venues.
After leaving the internationally-renowned, long-running Gekidan Ishinha, the director and co-director of Lowo=Tar=Voga, Kusakabe Kagerolo and Kondo Kazumi, have continued working to make their images more and more radical. On this tour, which marks their return to the stage after a two-year absence, they will be performing in amphitheaters, galleries, nightclubs, churches and regular theatres. Each of the performances begins with a different opening. And midway through the tour, the company went to Nara for the first time in almost ten years.
The venue in Nara was the distinctive, Huyuu Dairiten, which features jellyfish floating in aquariums. Because I know several people involved with the venue, I already knew a lot about it, but this was my first visit. They even had some copies of my very own free paper, flows. The location is on the first floor of the building directly in front of JR Nara Station. The exterior as well as the interior is quite surprising!
Lowo=Tar=Voga's performance at Hachi in Wakayama was held outdoors in an expansive area, but in Nara there was only room for 20 people, enabling the performers to stand nearly face to face with the audience. The flow in Nara was totally different from the last time I saw them. The very same performance has a way of changing into something completely new depending on the venue.
*Next time I'll report on the company's performance in another venue. Be sure and check back again on Dec. 25!