Osaka’s popular theater company Gekidan Shinkansen produced a period action piece called “Yajuro Kenzan”, set in the Oninki period starting in 1467.
Hideki Uramoto chose this play as his acting unit BeeHive’s debut performance because, “action is the best kind of entertainment”. He brought in actors he knew from working together in the past who have talent. He even hand-made all of the props like swords. He never showed the original “Yajuro Kenzan” video to any of the cast so he could get original performances. With his own passion for action, actors and crew deepened their trust to make their first showing in April of 2007 a huge success.
Uramoto first began acting when he worked part time in a hero show. “I always looked up to heroes growing up,” he says. Gradually, he began making his own productions on a stage that once only had a few old props. “Props make stories easier to understand. That’s one of BeeHive’s core beliefs.”
He has a talent for creating props, making everything for his own shows such as swords and animal suits.
Uramoto has the vitality to take on everything from project development to prop creation and acting. He plans on opening another show in October this year, but his interests don’t stop there. “Theater isn’t the only thing that interests me. I’d like to try composite art forms. There are many visual creators in Sapporo I’d like to collaborate with. For example, I want to make a stop motion animation of a robot I created from a local illustrator’s work.”
