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Companies

Theatrical Companies brought by StagePlay

International Theater Company London

ITCL (International Theatre Company London) was founded in 1980 by performers trained in the unique Grotowski Method of physical theatre. Originally it was called TNT, The New Theatre. Later, ADG Europe led by a producer Grantly Marshall became the partner of TNT, and they continue ITCL performances. www.adg-europe.com/

The group came to Japan for the first time in 1992 with the production of WIZARD OF JAZZ, a winner of Evening Star Award at the Munich Biennale Festival I in 1990. Hailed by the Guardian as “ unusual, entertaining, witty and stylized…,” the work well reflects the motto of ITCL, “Tragedy with A Smile on Its Lips”

Since then they have visited Japan regularly over 20 years. We will host 42nd Japan tour in 2015. They have played in more than 70 universities and high schools. The public performances were given in the city halls of major cities as well as US bases.

TNT Britain

TNT theatre was founded in the 1980’s in Britain. Three actors split off from one of the first properly funded experimental theatre company in the UK: TRIPLE ACTION, and one of them was Paul Stebbings, TNT's artistic director. Their background and impetus came from abroad especially the work of Grotowski (with whom Paul had done some training in Poland and UK with Triple Action) but also Brecht and Barba (Odin theatre).
In 1993 Paul Stebbings crossed paths with Grantly Marshall, and TNT gradually started to be produced within that umbrella organisation until Paul Stebbings became artistic director of both. Therefore TNT and ITCL/ADG-Europe often work in combination.
In 2001, Paul thought they should try Shakespeare. TNT’s MACBETH was the result. Taking physical theatre, music theatre and pushing the supernatural while staying within the historical context that Shakespeare intended proved a success. This has been the most performed version of that tragedy worldwide since its premier.
From then on they created a string of Shakespeare productions, the sequence of which is as follows: MACBETH, MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM, HAMLET, ROMEO & JULIET, KING LEAR, TAMING OF  THE SHREW, OTHELLO, MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING, THE MERCHANT OF VENICE, THE TEMPEST, TWELFTH NIGHT and the current widely acclaimed version of JULIUS CAESAR. Most of these productions have been revived and developed, sometimes in a different language. At the heart of the work is a desire to tell the story, to bring TNT's style to the plays but also to let the plays breathe and not burden them with a director's (or designer's) ego, to search for their essence and to play to the text. TNT's Shakespeare cycle has been seen by more people in more countries than any other Shakespeare company's work in the last ten years. It seems TNT's style is especially suited to the Bard’s work and this has been appreciated in wildly different venues across the planet from Nicaragua to Cambodia, from Berlin to Atlanta and London to Shanghai.

American Drama Group – Europe

The American Drama Group Europe was formed by Ohio native Grantly Marshall in 1978 in the city of Munich. It was linked in the beginning to the University of Munich where the first performances were held. It expanded quickly to other theatres in Munich and also began to give guest performances in other German cities. The expansion was continued to include many countries in Europe and Asia.
The goal of the American Drama Group Europe is to perform high quality theatre in as many countries in the world as possible, and StagePlay Japan provides for their performances in Japan for over two decades.
The actors come from mainly London, and New York and Paris (French theatre performances were added to our repertoire) where the productions are cast and directed. The plays performed include British, American, and French classic and modern dramas.

Artistic Director

Paul Stebbings

Click here to read about ITCL's Artistic Director Paul Stebbings.

“Paul Stebbings, art director since its foundation, believing that “the theater is a medium of intercultural communication”, is active essentially on international scenes and gives the greatest number of overseas performances these years among theatres based in UK. [...]"

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ITCL Philosophy

Click here to read the Philosophy of ITCL, a message from Artistic Director Paul Stebbings.

“Theatre is a social art which connects people through its creation process as well as its performance as goal. Theatre ties people across obstacles. In a world of technology more and more pulverized, thetre offers us another possibility. [...]"

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