Welcome

to tonight's performance of Rey Camoy at Keele University Chapel

We are beyond delighted to be here, having travelled across the globe from Osaka to share with you our latest production.

The show is inspired by a 20th century Japanese painter called Rey Camoy. Camoy was fascinated by the dark side of humanity. By all accounts a warm and loving person, in his paintings you sense a lot of suffering. He attempted suicide on several occasions and finally took his life at the age of 57. 

Our show is not a biography. Don't expect a story. Imagine that you have wandered into an exhibition of Camoy’s paintings and the characters on his canvases have come to life. A drunk, a clown, an old crone, a disabled soldier. And a mysterious figure that could be a lover or a muse. Camoy is there too. They hound him and beguile him and draw out his passion and his anguish one by one. 

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So there isn’t a story. There isn’t even any dialogue.  What is there? 

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Just six actors acting out their longings, in a way that is larger than life. It’s like three-dimensional music. Or what poetry might look like if made up of actions rather than words. And like music or poetry, there's no one way to see the show. It's up to you and your imagination to make sense of it.

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We'd love to hear what you make of it. You can share your impressions using #reycamoyuktour. And if you're intrigued by what we do, why not try it out for yourself? Send an email to tarinainanika@gmail.com with the subject line "I want to try" and we'll invite you to a free online class in Corporeal Mime - the art on which our show is built. 

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We hope you enjoy the show.

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Kentaro, Tania, Ryuta, Yukko, Teruyan and Tsuttan

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24th October 2023

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ps There is very little written about Camoy in English but if you want to find out more you can read this excellent article in Tokyo Art Beat.