劇団　バリリー座　Ballylee Theatre Society

ABOUT US

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Hello! Welcome to Ballylee Theatre Society. I'm rep. Ussay Nakajima.
We established this society in June 2008.
Our base is Tsukuba City, near Tokyo, Japan.

We shall present you ancient Irish & Welsh dramas, full of dreams and magic, fairies and giants, kings and queens, knights and beauties, dragons and all illusionary creatures and gods of sound & stones.

Our first performance will be in March 2009 (details to be announced).
We play "The Abbey at Ennis", a-thousand-years-ago tragic romance laid in Ennis, Co. Clare, Ireland.
Now we are rehearsing every week for the first stage, hoping as many people as can to come.

Our society was named with respect after Thoor Ballylee, an old normandic tower in the deep countryside of Co. Galway, where W.B.Yeats(1865-1939), a beloved Irish poet, once lived and wrote.

With the expression "ancient dramas", you might associate their old legends or folktales handed over generation to generation among the native people.
Actually, ours are bit still unique.
Maybe we can say they were given directly from the earth itself.

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I have been trying long to become a writer - since childhood.
I have written also long, mainly prose(stories), sometimes poems, criticism and theses. So I had thought that I'd known a little what it means to write.
But they were somehow beyond all my thoughts and experiences until then, what I got there when I first traveled in Ireland & Wales in Summer to Autumn 2004...

It's just something beyond words, how can I say? ...As I travel around here to there, various stories just came to me, one after another, from the air, in some magical way whispering "once upon a time, thousands of years ago, there happened such stories..."
Maybe they were the fairies, maybe they were the lingering spirits of the earth, the Genius Loci. Never known any other lands so full of souls and spirits.

Occult? Incredible? Maybe. Yet it's all true for me, can't explain elseway...
Wandering in the windy moor, under the changeable gray sky, or walking by the rocky shore at the remote hilly island... those stories just visited me.
In many cases, they came all in a moment, as like a quick movie show.
I saw illusionary screens on the sky and full of lively images there.

Maybe it's not so unusual the case there in those Celtic area.
I have met a lady from Dublin in far west of Ireland, who said that she's also got "the stories just come" when she's walking outside.
She was also a poet. She once read me her own writing, one of her "just came" stories, about a beautiful lady giant in red and gold, walking majestically along the glen...
Emer of blue eyes, and wavy raven hair... Do you hear me? I still recall your kindness and gentle, noble face...

As accustomed, they gave a pattern in my journey.
Each time I left for another town, I expected what story would come next.
They might come just as my arrival, or might take more time, in any case they surely came in the end, without fail.
I stayed there while they told me, until I felt that I could seize the details enough, then I left for still another destination.

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Since back in Japan, I've been dedicated writing down these stories - the process to make them appear in this world.
They've given me more than 30 stories, both in Ireland and Wales, and now I've written up about 15 stories. (in Japanese only, for the time being.)
"The Abbey at Ennis" is the first one of those Ireland series.
You can read this work in Japanese in this site.
Of course I'm going to write them also in English in the future.

It was certainly following in Yeats' footprints, his great achievements in National Abbey Theatre and others, that I came to organize this Ballylee Theatre Society.
Still, it goes with my own inner feelings very well - it was quite natural for me to start this now.
Somehow, I've known long that someday I would start something like this.
And now something in the wind tells me that now is the time to.

"Ennis" as the start, we're going to stage these stories one by one as Ballylee Theatre Society.
First in Tsukuba, then in Tokyo, and someday not so far, in Dublin or London and other cities, towns in Ireland, Wales and other neighbouring areas.
Yes, I do believe that there will be a way to.
Then I believe they will bring us great pleasure, sorrow and still-lasting hope, will move us so and open our eyes to all the love, beauty and the strength still left in this world.

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Ah, but before that, we still need a few more members to make up our stage.
Would you be interested in our society?
Would you like to play a monk or a waterfairy at our first stage?
Would you live in/near Tsukuba?
Then, do not hesitate to send a message to us now!
With minimum Japanese ability, males and females in any age, any nationality welcome, experienced/unexperienced both welcome!!
  

Updated on 7th Apr 09.
Successfully finished. Thank you!!!

Ancient Irish&Welsh plays Ballylee Theatre Society　
The premiere (in Japanese)

THE ABBEY AT ENNIS
Pageant (in the open air)
Venu: Tsukuba Centre Hiroba Monument Plaza (1chome Azuma, Tsukuba City-next to TX Tsukuba Station and Nova Hall. Nearest parking underground ￥200/h)
When rains: Takezono Public Hall (3-19-2 Takezono, Tsukuba, free parking available)
map: please see http://stptsfes.tsukuba.ch/c2968.html
Entrance Free

Time table
Sat.21th 　　　　3:00pm～　& 6:00pm～      held as scheduled!!!
Sun.22th　　　　　3:00pm～                          cancelled according to the weather.
Sat.28th　　　　　1:00pm～　　　　　　　　　       when rains indoor. only one stage 3:00~
Sun.29th　　　　　3:00pm～　　　                    when rains indoor.

When rains:
Sat.28th　　　　　3:00pm～
Sun.29th　　　　　3:00pm～　　

When the weather is doubtful, details to be announced on this site at the morning.
We apologize that 28th 6:00 stage was cancelled.

An ancient Irish story --- The scene is laid in the actual city Ennis, the capital of County Clare, the Western district of Ireland.
An elegant tragedy romance of Amannan, a young gentle monk in the abbey at R. Fergus, and Elda, an innocent, beautiful waterfairy, pursuing the essential theme of love, doom,  destiny, and also, cultural gaps--- being enjoyable full of songs and dances.

Held as a part of Tsukuba St. Patrick's Festival 2009.  http://stptsfes.tsukuba.ch/