The Show Must Go On

The finale of this year's Festival/Tokyo is a production of choreographer Jérôme Bel's deliberately provocative 'The Show Must Go On', in which a local cast deliver a kind of confrontational anti-performance to a soundtrack of overly familiar pop and rock hits. Intended to demolish the wall between performer and audience, the show provoked an uproar when it premiered in Paris in 2001, and has continued to split opinion ever since. Given the reticence of so many Japanese theatre-goers, it'll be interesting to see how it goes down here – and Bel will be there in person to explain himself after the Saturday afternoon performance.