Just before Japan's economy took a downturn, the Tokyu railroad conglomerate celebrated good times with the construction of the splendidly designed Bunkamura arts complex just behind its flagship department store in Tokyo's Shibuya district.

Bunkamura, comprising a concert hall, cinema, gallery and Theatre Cocoon, opened in 1989, and Kazuyoshi Kushida, a dramatist known for his radical productions since the 1960s, was appointed Cocoon's artistic director. Having been involved in the planning stages of the new theater, Kushida wasted no time turning it into one of the premier venues for contemporary theater by regularly staging works directed both by himself and other luminaries such as Hideki Noda, Suzuki Matsuo and Yukio Ninagawa.

But not being one to settle for proven success formulas, Kushida continued to push the envelope . . . and so he set his sights on updating kabuki.