About Hideki Noda and NODA MAP

Hideki Noda was born in 1955 in Nagasaki, Japan. He is a Japanese playwright, director, and actor. While still studying at Tokyo University, in 1976, he founded the theatre company Yume no Yuminsha (Dreaming Bohemian). The company disbanded in 1992, and the following year he founded NODA MAP after studying in the UK. He has created many plays such as, The Bee based on the short story Mushiriai (Plucking At Each Other) by Yasutaka Tsutsui, Egg, In the Forest, Under Cherries in Full Blossom, and Fakespeare. He also writes and directs Kabuki plays and operas, showcasing his creativity in other forms of art beyond contemporary theatre. He has worked extensively in the UK: his Red Demon played the Young Vic in 2003, and The Diver was performed at Soho Theatre in 2008. The first show he wrote in English was The Bee, which was born from a workshop with London actors in 2006. It premiered at the Soho Theatre and received a 5 star review in Time Out, who called it a “highly unusual theatrical gem”.　In 2022, he brought A Night At the Kabuki to London and Taipei, and in 2024, Love in Action to London, earning high praise. In January 2023, he became the first Japanese to receive the ISPA 2023 Distinguished Artist Award in recognition of his outstanding achievements in the international performing arts community. From 2008 until March 2026, he worked as artistic director of Tokyo Metropolitan Theatre. He received the OBE (Honorary Order of the British Empire) in 2009, the Asahi Prize in 2009.