Tokyo, March 2. Two days after the premiere of the kabuki theatrical adaptation of the video game Final Fantasy X, the cast took part in a special screening today where they staged parts of the play, which uses a multi-stage rotating theater to address the long history of the title.
It is the first traditional Japanese theatrical adaptation of a video game, inspired by a title originally released in 2001 for the PlayStation 2 console and which, following its great success, has been remastered several times for platforms and Latest generation PC.
The project started in 2020, when the outbreak of the covid-19 pandemic hit the performing arts.
“I was a little depressed at that time,” said actor Kikunosuke Onoe V, promoter of this theatrical adaptation of the Square Enix game and which brings the protagonist of the plot, Tidus, to life on Thursday.
“The vision of Final Fantasy X made me feel optimistic again,” said Onoe, who also helped with the planning and set design, and who said he sought to convey to viewers those values of camaraderie and of perseverance present in the title.
Transferring a story that spans at least 40 hours of gameplay and has a considerable amount of scenarios is a complex task. In order to encompass as much as possible, the play uses the particularity of the theater chosen for its performance, the IHI Stage Around Tokyo, with a 360-degree stage.
Its structure is in fact a set of several curved stages distributed on a circumference and in the center of which are the stalls, able to make a complete turn to face each of the stages.
As a curtain, an 8-meter-long curved screen is used on which at certain times images are projected, as in the introduction, which emulates the title screen of the video game.
“I hope viewers who are fans of Final Fantasy X will feel like it’s the same scene as the video game, and those who are just kabuki fans can enjoy the movements during the fights, the dancing and the music,” which adapts the soundtrack, Onoe said.
The scenarios are very varied, but among them stand out those made for the Macalania forest or blitzball, the characteristic underwater sport present in the game, which mixes a kind of handball and football, among others.
None of them were seen in performances today in a special press pass ahead of the work’s premiere this Saturday, March 4.
The cast, who fully participated in the characteristic appearance of their respective characters, represented the iconic “expedition” scene, a video of which was already released earlier this month, and the battle against Seymour, the antagonist of the story, played by actor Matsuya Onoe II.
The opening of this attempts to mimic its composition and poses a capture of the game itself, later becoming a dynamic scene in which the actors choreograph a battle with lighting effects and head and body movement. characteristics of kabuki, and where there is no shortage of “kuroko”, the black-clad stagehands of Japanese theatre.
Making such an adaptation “seemed like a formidable challenge to me,” said actor Shido Nakamura II, who plays Auron, the protagonist’s mentor.
“You can create a kabuki game that blends its traditional essence and also respects the original work” of the game, added Nakamura, who hopes that an adaptation of these characteristics can become a window into kabuki itself for newcomers. fans.
The theatrical adaptation of Final Fantasy X will be played until April 12 with a total of 35 performances, in a nod to the 35th anniversary of the Final Fantasy franchise, commemorated on December 18, 2022 and which extends its activities into 2023. EFE
mra-yk/ahg/pi
(Picture / Video)