Masamune Shirow’s Ghost in the Shell manga is inspiring a “VR Noh” stage play production that will run at Tokyo’s Setagaya Public Theatre on August 22 and 23. The production unveiled a visual of the lead character Motoko Kusanagi in Noh attire on Saturday with the tagline, “To a cyber world that has transcended tradition …”
The production will feature performers from Kanze, a school that has preserved the classic Japanese dance and theater traditions of Noh for nearly seven centuries. It will also use various cutting-edge technologies in virtual reality, and it will not require VR sets to enjoy.
The cast includes Takanobu Sakaguchi, Kōhei Kawaguchi, Kengo Tanimoto, and other Kanze Noh musicians. Shutaro Oku (live-action Blood-C films and stage productions, stage productions of Ghost in the Shell Arise, Persona 4) is directing off a script by Jun’ichi Fujisaku (Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex, Blood-C, Appleseed XIII). Meiji University’s Kentarō Fukuchi (Ghost in the Shell Arise stage production) is handling the 3D technology, and University of Tokyo’s Masahiko Inami, a leading figure in VR research, is handling the production’s VR technology.
Advance ticket sales have begun on Saturday, and sales to the general public will begin on June 20.
Source: Comic Natalie