演劇作家の藤田貴大は、カンパニー「マームとジプシー」を主宰、全作品の脚本・演出を手がける。北海道・伊達出身の藤田にとって、前橋は、母方のルーツで、自身の出生地でもあり、幼少期より毎年祖父母に会いに訪れた町である。2012年、「マームとジプシー」は、沖縄戦に動員された少女たちに着想を得て創作した今日マチ子の漫画『cocoon』の舞台化に際し、初めて沖縄に流れる時間と記憶に触れた。以降、沖縄に通いながら、沖縄のみならず様々な土地の戦争、痕跡、記憶をヒアリングしながら作品にしてきた。その中で、藤田と、舞台「cocoon」で主演・サン役を務めた俳優・青柳いづみ、音楽を担当したクラムボンの原田郁子は、本公演と並行して、リーディグライブを行ってきた。今秋、開催予定の『前橋国際芸術祭2026』に3人の出演が決定。前橋空襲の戦災遺構・旧安田銀行担保倉庫を舞台に、リーディングライブ『koe oto note』を2日間行う。あの頃の未来である今、「その先」を生きる私たちの声・音、言葉をつなげていく。

Playwright Takahiro Fujita leads the company mum&gypsy and writes and directs all of its productions. For Fujita, who was born in Date, Hokkaido, Maebashi is the place of his maternal roots and where he was raised, a place where he visited his grandparents every year during his youth. In 2012, when mum&gypsy staged cocoon, the manga by Kyo Machiko inspired by the young girls mobilized during the Battle of Okinawa, Fujita encountered for the first time the flow of time and memories in Okinawa. Since then, while continuing to visit Okinawa, he has created works that draw on interviews about war, its traces, and its memories not only in Okinawa, but in many other places. During performances of cocoon, Fujita, actor Aoyagi Izumi (who played the lead role of San), and musician Harada Ikuko of Clammbon, who composed the music, have also been holding a series of reading performances in parallel with the main performance. It has been confirmed that all three will appear at Maebashi Biennale 2026 slated this autumn, where over the course of two days, they will present the reading performance koe oto note inside the Old Yasuda Bank Security Warehouse, a structure that survived the Maebashi air raid in WWII. From the standpoint of us living in the “future” of that earlier time, the trio will weave together voices, sounds, and words of us who live on.