Share your Stories and Photos
Before smartphones. Before Instagram. When a night out meant a cramped bar, loud music, and a small international crowd that somehow seemed to know everyone — or at least knew the same three bars in Sakae.
A local theater group wants to capture that moment.
Nagoya-based Theatre Iridescence is preparing a new production of Much Ado About Nothing — but not quite the Shakespeare you remember. Their version is set in a late-1990s expat dive bar in Japan, where friendships, romances, and misunderstandings unfold over drinks in a tight-knit international crowd.
To help recreate that world, the group is asking people who lived in Japan between 1995 and 2005 to share photos and stories from that era. Snapshots from bars, house parties, music gigs, language school days — anything that captures the texture of expat life during those years.
Some of these memories may even be incorporated directly into the stage production.
If you were part of Nagoya’s international community back then — or anywhere in Japan — they’d like to hear from you.
Share memories here:
https://forms.gle/mTkhtYP5c525bNYcA
About the Show
The collected stories and photos will help inform Theatre Iridescence’s upcoming production of Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing.
This special staging places the classic comedy inside “The Messina,” a fictional expat dive bar in Japan at the turn of the millennium, where a small international community navigates friendships, romances, misunderstandings, and the strange dynamics of life far from home.
The production also celebrates Theatre Iridescence’s 10th anniversary, bringing together familiar performers from the local theater community along with actors trained overseas.
Performances will take place June 19–21, 2026 at Chikusa Playhouse.
The Details
Much Ado About Nothing
Produced by Theatre Iridescence
Venue:
Chikusa Playhouse
千種文化小劇場
Dates:
June 19–21, 2026
Times:
June 19 — 18:30
June 20 — 11:00 / 17:00
June 21 — 11:00 / 16:00
Price:
General ¥3,000
Students ¥2,500
Tickets Available Online Now:
https://peatix.com/event/4888982
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