This is the second year since the training school started. A new unit consisting of 11 volunteer graduates will perform in the summer.
The students of the Cocoon Actors Studio (CAS), which will begin in April 2024, are aspiring actors in their teens and twenties who have been selected through auditions. What are Matsuo's thoughts on training them?
"It makes you seem less active and more arrogant, and I understand the feelings of those who don't want to develop young people," says Matsuo. However, he says there is an unavoidable sense of impatience.
"I want to convey the aesthetics and spirit of my acting to future actors. Because I've been in this industry for 37 years, there are some things I can only teach through my posture and demeanor. But because of my age, I only have another 10 years, at most, to teach with my voice and body. That precipice motivates me. Now is the time to teach."
At CAS, Matsuo and other theater experts spend a year practicing acting, singing, dancing, pantomime, and period drama movements. But that's not all they teach.
"Social skills are essential to becoming a full-fledged adult. In the end, I want to convey the fact that the people who survive are the ones who are well-behaved, without dismissing their personalities. I started working without being taught anything, and I was quite edgy, so I took quite a detour (laughs). There is no shortest route, of course, but I don't want people to take unnecessary detours."
Upon graduation, Matsuo wrote a script for a play starring all the students, which was performed at Bunkamura Theatre Cocoon. Ensemble Days - They Have Names Too - is an ensemble drama about an ensemble of actors playing nameless characters, and its mix of cynical humor and realism captured the hearts of audiences.
"The response exceeded their expectations, giving them confidence in their efforts, and it gave me, a man in his 60s, the sense that 'I can still do it.' In a sense, they gave me the strength to live."
In today's Japan, both those who share knowledge and lessons and those who receive them are overly conservative. However, perhaps interaction between generations can enrich both sides.
