Consul-General Attends “Shakespeare Meets NOH: DESDEMONA” at George Town Festival
2026/8/8
On August 8th, Mr. Shinya Machida, Consul-General of Japan in Penang, attended “Shakespeare Meets NOH: DESDEMONA” at the Majestic Theatre in Penang as part of George Town Festival 2026. The festival is one of Penang’s leading international arts festivals, bringing together artists and audiences from Malaysia and abroad through a diverse programme encompassing theatre, music, dance, film, and contemporary art.
The production reimagined Shakespeare’s tragedy “Othello” by incorporating the movement, chant, music, and stagecraft of Noh, one of Japan’s traditional performing arts. With the cooperation and support of the Japan Foundation, Kuala Lumpur and other relevant organisations, KL Shakespeare Players, LifeArtUnion and Malaysian musicians created the production jointly through approximately five years of dialogue and experimentation between Japanese and Malaysian artists. Performed in Japanese, English, Malay and Chinese, it was an ambitious multicultural and multilingual production.
Mr. Machida attended the performance together with Mr. Choo Shing Lai, President of the Malaysian-Japanese Society (MJS), and others. Following the performance, he met with Mr. Jinya Imai, the Japanese director, as well as performers and other representatives from both Japan and Malaysia. Mr. Machida expressed his profound respect for the artists’ years of dedication to bringing different traditions, sensibilities and forms of expression together in a single theatrical work and was deeply impressed by the new artistic value created through the fusion of Noh and Shakespeare.
Mr. Machida stated that the Consulate-General would seek to publicise as widely as possible future performances in Penang involving Japanese artists or Japanese culture. Looking ahead to the 70th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Japan and Malaysia and the 50th anniversary of the decision to establish the Consulate-General of Japan in Penang in 2027, the Consulate-General will continue to promote Japanese culture in cooperation with the Japan Foundation and other relevant organisations, while supporting initiatives that create new value through the fusion of Japanese culture with the cultures of Malaysia and other countries.
The production reimagined Shakespeare’s tragedy “Othello” by incorporating the movement, chant, music, and stagecraft of Noh, one of Japan’s traditional performing arts. With the cooperation and support of the Japan Foundation, Kuala Lumpur and other relevant organisations, KL Shakespeare Players, LifeArtUnion and Malaysian musicians created the production jointly through approximately five years of dialogue and experimentation between Japanese and Malaysian artists. Performed in Japanese, English, Malay and Chinese, it was an ambitious multicultural and multilingual production.
Mr. Machida attended the performance together with Mr. Choo Shing Lai, President of the Malaysian-Japanese Society (MJS), and others. Following the performance, he met with Mr. Jinya Imai, the Japanese director, as well as performers and other representatives from both Japan and Malaysia. Mr. Machida expressed his profound respect for the artists’ years of dedication to bringing different traditions, sensibilities and forms of expression together in a single theatrical work and was deeply impressed by the new artistic value created through the fusion of Noh and Shakespeare.
Mr. Machida stated that the Consulate-General would seek to publicise as widely as possible future performances in Penang involving Japanese artists or Japanese culture. Looking ahead to the 70th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Japan and Malaysia and the 50th anniversary of the decision to establish the Consulate-General of Japan in Penang in 2027, the Consulate-General will continue to promote Japanese culture in cooperation with the Japan Foundation and other relevant organisations, while supporting initiatives that create new value through the fusion of Japanese culture with the cultures of Malaysia and other countries.