ABSTRACT

Rimini Protokoll’s 100% Tokyo (2013) casted 100 ordinary citizens of Tokyo who answered questions about actual socio-political matters by moving onstage. In addition, they asked the audiences to answer questions by putting up their hands, and the audiences had a chance to ask questions to which all participants in the theatre answered. The audiences could see what the participants thought about the situation of Tokyo and Japan after the accident of the nuclear power plant in Fukushima in 2011 and before the Tokyo Olympic Games to be held in 2020. Moreover, the performance took place as Tokyo governor’s corruption was discussed, and an audience member asked if the governor should resign and most of the participants agreed. Due to the timing, 100% Tokyo offered the audiences in Tokyo an opportunity to be active participants in an open forum about actual socio-political themes of Tokyo and Japan. The performance emancipated the audiences from social constraints and visualised (and even formed) an actual socio-political atmosphere of the city and the country.