2024 TAF: The Sun

5.27 (Mon) 12:00 - Paid Member Pre-sale
6.3 (Mon) 12:00 - Official Sales Start

Before understanding each other, we are destined to kill one another.

Premiered in 2011, The Sun by the Japanese playwriter/director Tomohiro Maekawa sets the scene on a post-apocalyptic Earth in the early 21st century. The world’s population has significantly decreased and is divided into two groups: the mutated new breed, Nokusu, and the old humans, Kyurio. The former are intolerant to sunlight but outsmart the latter, thus controlling resources and oppressing the Kyurios in poverty. 

Long before the COVID-19 outbreak, the sci-fi philosophical fable imagines a dystopian future brought about by bioterror attacks. Not only are characters distinguished by intelligence or physical capacity, but also by their own beliefs and faith in ways of coexisting, which can be contradictory even within the same “species”.

The smash hit has received great praise and has been adapted into a movie, a novel, and multiple stage versions, making it recognized internationally. This year, continuing his pursuit of naturalistic aesthetics, Tora Hsu, a theater prodigy and the artistic director of 4 CHAIRS THEATRE, leads a phenomenal Taiwanese cast in reinterpreting the piece within a post-pandemic context. After what we have collectively been through, this new staging reinvestigates how we confront divided and extreme positions in a still-fragmented world.

4 CHAIRS THEATRE, Taiwan

4 CHAIRS THEATRE is a Taiwan-based theatre company that devotes itself to devising theatre pieces and staging original or localized plays. Whether a production takes off from devising, playwriting, or translating, the company keeps in mind that the work in hand, along with the body of work, should focus on the here and now and reflect the everyday life of its audience. Since its establishment in 2007, 4 CHAIRS has not only been a multiple-time finalist of Taishin Arts Awards, but also a frequent invitee to prominent houses like the National Theatre, the National Taichung Theatre, and Taipei Performing Arts Center. And, from 2019 on, the National Culture and Arts Foundation has annually placed the company under the label "TAIWAN TOP" in recognition of its dedication to the performing arts industry. At present, 4 CHAIRS has made itself a company with the ability to find balance among artistic pursuits, work quality, ticket sales, and audience reception, one not to be missed in the landscape of contemporary Taiwanese theatre.

Tora Hsu, Taiwan

Artistic Director of the 4 CHAIRS THEATRE, he holds a MA in Advanced Theatre Practice from the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama. Currently serving as a lecturer in the Department of Drama at Taipei National University of the Arts, Tora Hsu was honored as “People of the Year” by PAR Performing Arts Magazine in 2021, and selected for Cloud Gate's “Art Makers Project”. With a focus on collectivity as a creative principle, he centers on a "new realism" aesthetic with the text at its core. Several of his works have been nominated for the Taishin Arts Award.

Tomohiro Maekawa, Japan

Playwright and director born in 1974. His style has a science fiction and philosophical worldview, and his production is unique, making time and space appear seamless. He has won many theatre awards in Japan. He also works on video scripts, novels, and manga originals. His masterpiece, BEFORE WE VANISH, was made into a film by Kiyoshi Kurosawa. Performances in Paris and South Korea have been well-received, and translated versions in various languages have been published in recent years. In 2023, his latest work To Deliver a Soul won the Yomiuri Theater Award for Best Work.