Ikuta and Higashiyama play women in stage show

Johnny’s stars Noriyuki Higashiyama (44) and Toma Ikuta (25) will play side by side in the upcoming double stage show “Madame de Sade/わが友ヒットラー (Waga Tomo Hitler, My Friend Hitler)” in 2011, reports Sports Hochi.

The shows, which will run in Tokyo from February 2 to March 2, were written by Japanese playwright Yukio Mishima (three-time Nobel Prize for Literature nominee) in the 1960s and are considered some of his best.  The show itself will be directed by veteran theatre director Yukio Ninagawa (74).

“Madame de Sade” is a play set in 18th century Paris, where six women tell their story about the Marquis de Sade, an aristocrat imprisoned in the Bastille for his sensational escapades and lurid behavior.  Higashiyama will play Marquis de Sade’s wife Renee, and Ikuta will play Renee’s younger sister Anne.  It will be the first time Ikuta plays a woman, and the second time Higashiyama dresses in drag, his first being during his 2008 stage show “さらば、わが愛　覇王別姫 (Saraba, Waga Ai/Haoubekki)”.

The second story, “My Friend Hitler”, is based on the historical Night of the Long Knives incident, where in 1934 the Nazi regime carried out a number of political executions.  Higashiyama will play Ernst Rohm, leader of the Sturmabteilung, who Hitler saw as a threat to his own power, while the Nazi leader himself will be played by Ikuta.

Both plays will be performed by the same cast, using the same sets, a challenge which is exciting its core members.

“We can finally fulfill what Mishima-san had wanted but was never able to do,” Ninagawa said.

“I’m about to climb up an immensely steep hill towards Yukio Mishima’s world,” Higashiyama said.

“Since it’s a double show, I want to start by practising how to react quickly to the doubled number of things that’ll be thrown at me,” Ikuta said.

Another cast member who has been confirmed for the show is Mikijiro Hira (76).

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Source: http://bit.ly/a4evWS

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