Asia News: Mailbox Theatres, Olympics, Clockenflap & More

Dance Company Develops Mailbox Theatre

A dance company called Moonlight Mobile Theater, headquartered in the city of Nagoya in central Japan, has come up with a novel idea for presenting performances in the age of COVID. 

Dubbed a “mailbox” theater for the viewing methodology, their venue presents performances on a central round stage with audience members seated on stools in enclosed booths that encircle the stage. The viewers watch the performance through mailbox-like slots. Though some commentators have likened the experience to sex-oriented “peep shows,” the operators have told media that they think of it more like a kind of virtual theater. 

According to the artistic director, “We used small holes and mailbox slots to limit the audience from seeing everything. That way, it makes the audience move their bodies or their eyes to look.”

The theater started offering this new experience in December after having been closed for most of the year due to the pandemic. The publicity has resulted in a great deal of interest, with all performances having been subsequently sold out.

Nevertheless, the method only allows for 30 patrons per performance, which is not enough to cover the expense of the production. Government subsidies make up the shortfall. 

The director told Reuters, “If we don’t do it [this way], artists will lose opportunities to dance and act. We want to propose this as a model to bring audiences back to theaters.”

Olympics Rumored To Restrict Visitors

Several local media are reported that foreign spectators will not be allowed into Japan to attend the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, which were postponed to this summer. In a press statement made earlier in March, the president of the organizing committee, Seiko Hashimoto, did not categorically say that foreign fans would be banned, but most other people involved seemed to act as if that was the case. 

Hashimoto met with Thomas Bach, the president of the International Olympic Committee, online for talks in early March, and later told the press that a final decision about foreign spectators would be made by March 25, when the torch relay will begin in northeastern Japan. The Olympics are scheduled to start July 23. 

Then an unnamed government source told the Mainichi Shimbun newspaper, “In the current situation it is impossible to bring in foreign spectators.” Another national daily, the NIhon Keizai Shimbun, said on March 9 that the organizing committee had already reached the same conclusion. However, the organizing committee wants to allow foreign guests of sponsors to attend the competitions. 

Holding the Olympics remains a hotly contested issue in Japan, where close to 80 percent of respondents in surveys say that the Games should be either cancelled outright or postponed yet again. And while Japan has done better than most Western countries in controlling the pandemic — about 8,000 people have died of COVID — infections continue to surge periodically and a vaccine for the general public will not be available until April at the very earliest. 

After the meeting, Bach said that the first priority is “the competitions,” thus implying that live audiences could be sacrificed. And with virus variants adding another layer of complication to the matter, allowing more foreigners in is considered an extremely risky undertaking. About 11,000 athletes are expected to participate, and no one believes they will all have access to a vaccine. Local organizers have said they will not require athletes to be vaccinated, though they will greatly limit their movement. 

Fewer spectators mean less revenue, and with costs already skyrocketing due to the postponement, Tokyo could end up paying for the Games from now until doomsday. Officially, the price tag at the moment is $15.4 billion, but behind the scenes insiders say it’s probably twice that amount.

Clockenflap Scheduled For November

Clockenflap
 – Clockenflap

The organizers of Hong Kong’s biggest international music festival, Clockenflap, announced on March 3 that the next edition of the festival will take place Nov. 26 to 28 at the Central Harbourfront Event Space. 


Clockenflap was cancelled in both 2019 and 2020, the first time because of the city’s ongoing democracy protests and the second time due to the COVID pandemic. 

The co-founder of the festival, Justin Sweeting, told Bandcamp, “It’s really all or nothing for us, and we’re only going ahead if we’re able to present the full-blown event, the kind people have come to know and love. It’s got to be fun, or there’s no point doing it.” 

Sweeting also stressed the health precautions they will take in order to ensure that the festival can be staged safely.
Tickets are already on sale and can be purchased at a discount until March 16. Full cancellation refunds apply to all tickets sold. No artists have been announced yet, though Sweeting thinks that matters should be approaching normal by the fall. 

Seoul Concerts Slow To Return

Though theatrical plays and musicals are starting to make a comeback in Seoul, pop concerts are still having a tough time. 

K-pop boy band Monsta X was scheduled to play two offline shows on March 6 and 7, but they were called off at the last minute due to jitters about infection numbers. 

The group’s management, Starship Entertainment, announced that they were “forced” to call off the concerts “for the safety of the audience,” according to the Korea Times. 

In a statement, the company elaborated, “Korea decided to keep the current Level 2 social distancing in Seoul and surrounding Gyeonggi Province, but local authorities suddenly asked us to abide by the previous guideline, which bans gatherings of more than 100 people. We apologize for the sudden cancellation of the events and will refund the tickets.” The concerts, however, will still be available to watch online. 
The announcement puts into doubt other concerts that are scheduled for March. One industry insider told the Korea Times, “Considering that the performances nourish the culture industry, banning all concerts is not the best solution. There should be clearer and more flexible guidelines for people to enjoy the performances.”