GEAR (

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

: ギア) is a Japanese

long-run In economics, the long-run is a theoretical concept in which all markets are in equilibrium, and all prices and quantities have fully adjusted and are in equilibrium. The long-run contrasts with the short-run, in which there are some constraints an ...

non-verbal theatre show that originates in

Kyoto Kyoto (; Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in Japan. Located in the Kansai region on the island of Honshu, Kyoto forms a part of the Keihanshin metropolitan area along with Osaka and Kobe. , the ci ...

and incorporates elements of technology, skilled performance arts. It is the first long-run show with original content in Japan.

History

GEAR was first created by Art Complex in

Osaka is a designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the third most populous city in Japan, following Special wards of Tokyo and Yokohama. With a population of 2. ...

as a project of the Osaka Regional Arts and Cultural Promotion Project Plan. After several successful runs promoted by different cultural affairs agencies in the

Kansai The or the , lies in the southern-central region of Japan's main island Honshu, Honshū. The region includes the Prefectures of Japan, prefectures of Nara Prefecture, Nara, Wakayama Prefecture, Wakayama, Kyoto Prefecture, Kyoto, Osaka Prefectur ...

region, it opened as a long run show in a specially designated theatre in downtown Kyoto in April 2012. It is currently in its fifth year of performances.

Content

GEAR follows four robots who work in a falling-apart toy factory in the distant future. An electrical accident brings one of the dolls they manufacture to life, and Doll and Robots learn together the value of play and humanity. Each robot discovers a special skill they have, and so the show gradually incorporates

mime Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (MIME) is an Internet standard that extends the format of email messages to support text in character sets other than ASCII, as well as attachments of audio, video, images, and application programs. Message ...

juggling Juggling is a physical skill, performed by a juggler, involving the manipulation of objects for recreation, entertainment, art or sport. The most recognizable form of juggling is toss juggling. Juggling can be the manipulation of one object o ...

breakdance Breakdancing, also called breaking or b-boying/b-girling, is an athletic style of street dance originating from the African American and Puerto Rican communities in the United States. While diverse in the amount of variation available in ...

, and

magic Magic or Magick most commonly refers to: * Magic (supernatural), beliefs and actions employed to influence supernatural beings and forces * Ceremonial magic, encompasses a wide variety of rituals of magic * Magical thinking, the belief that unrela ...

. Much of the design for GEAR, costumes and visual style is by Kyoto-based

Manga Manga (Japanese: 漫画 ) are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long prehistory in earlier Japanese art. The term ''manga'' is u ...

artist

Akihiro Yamada (born February 10, 1957) is a Japanese illustrator and manga artist. He was born in Kōchi, Kōchi Prefecture on the island of Shikoku in Japan, and now resides in Kyoto. Yamada is known for delicate images reminiscent of suiboku and depictio ...

, which lends an idiosyncratic look to the show. Another distinguishing mark of GEAR is the extensive use of stage technology.

Projection mapping Projection mapping, similar to video mapping and spatial augmented reality, is a projection technique used to turn objects, often irregularly shaped, into display surfaces for video projection. The objects may be complex industrial landscapes, s ...

is used extensively, as are

laser A laser is a device that emits light through a process of optical amplification based on the stimulated emission of electromagnetic radiation. The word "laser" is an acronym for "light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation". The fir ...

s, an

LED A light-emitting diode (LED) is a semiconductor Electronics, device that Light#Light sources, emits light when Electric current, current flows through it. Electrons in the semiconductor recombine with electron holes, releasing energy i ...

dress, and moving lighting. In the words of Japan Times reviewer Andrew Eglinton:

In contrast, the production was lent a particularly powerful dimension through projection-mapping technology that allowed the crew to project light and video designs onto isolated parts of the Modernist factory to create the impression of a futuristic, automated world.

In “Gear,” though, projection-mapping animates the space and enables fast-paced scene changes, and is also used to turn audience members into mapping surfaces to conjure a remarkable holistic experience.

Venue

The long-term theatre for GEAR is a building in downtown Kyoto called 1928. The building was built in 1928, and used to house the Kyoto branch of the Osaka

Mainichi The is one of the major newspapers in Japan, published by In addition to the ''Mainichi Shimbun'', which is printed twice a day in several local editions, Mainichi also operates an English language news website called ''The Mainichi'' (previ ...

Newspaper. The building has many

Art Deco Art Deco, short for the French ''Arts Décoratifs'', and sometimes just called Deco, is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design, that first appeared in France in the 1910s (just before World War I), and flourished in the Unite ...

embellishments and is a good example of Taisho Era

Japanese architecture has been typified by wooden structures, elevated slightly off the ground, with tiled or thatched roofs. Sliding doors (''fusuma'') and other traditional partitions were used in place of walls, allowing the internal configuration of a space to ...

.{{Cite book, title=Complex Entertainment, last=Kohara, first=Keito, publisher=1928, Limited., year=2016, location=Kyoto, Japan, pages=6 It is designated a Kyoto City Tangible Cultural Property.

References

External links

�
GEAR official website
Theatre in Japan Nonverbal communication Comedy plays

History

Content

Venue

See also

References

External links