We have found some difficulty working on this project remotely. What we wanted to do with this project originally was to have a lot of playfulness in the process and do a lot of experimenting along the way. Normally, we work mainly with DIY stuff and with atypical materials (especially lighting) to develop our projects and we wanted to do that within this project as well. But because we could not meet each other this year at all, a lot of the playfulness was lost and we have had to adapt to a different way of working, which is not what we are used to. So the work that the audience will see is different from what it would have been if we could have followed the original plan and all three work together in the same place. In the past, our way of working always involved a lot of fooling around in the studio with things and just having fun with the materials we all love. This way of playing often leads to new ideas or techniques that end up being used in the project.

Another thing that we have not been able to do very well is work with the space of the theatre. We are not really people who want to build up something inside the theatre as a set. Instead, we are interested in working with the existing space and structure of that location. Shinoda-San has this approach in a lot of her works, including this one. But because 2 of us could not go to Japan, we couldn't ever experience the space first-hand and that has really limited our ability to think about the possibilities of the space. So in the end, the show and the process of making it have become very different from what we had originally intended.

But I think these are challenges that all of us in the performing arts have to face at this time. Now is really a time for working in new ways and testing new processes. In that sense, this project has pushed us to a different kind of experimenting and there is a lot of value in that. We are now starting to find ways of keeping up 'playfulness' even though we three are in three different countries!

It has been a challenge for me since the project started, not only working remotely, but also the cultural and language barrier. The main text is written in Japanese in an unconventional manner. Liam and I have been working from the English translation version. By the time we got the script, everyone is already separated to three different countries and I think at that point it started getting hard. We never had time to sit down and talk through it together. As Go and Liam said, the three of us physically work in the studio where we can play, test, and take time for discussion. Things develop at the dinner table or even drinking beer on the street, not only in the studio. Luckily, there are some tools that keep us connected but sitting in front of a computer screen for long hours is pretty intense, not to mention the time differences.

At the very beginning of the virus situation, we had no idea how long it would last. It turned out we cannot join both periods, the rehearsal and the event. We were looking forward to working with the Japanese technical team. Getting to know the space through photos and watching rehearsal through video was difficult for me to comprehend the feeling there. Experiencing the performance during a rehearsal together always matters, even a tiny thing can stand out or change into another direction. When I worked with Shinoda in Bangkok, we were spending a lot of time reflecting on what we experienced. Unfortunately, we didn’t get to do a lot of that on this project. Working closely with her is very important to me. Eventually, we pushed through it and it has been a very good experience. I wish I could have done more. Thanks to Go and the Japanese technical team, off-site preparation is well-prepped.