Inspired from the classic Noh play ‘Motomezuka’, The Frolic of the Beast follows the university student Koji after having been discharged from prison. The plot gradually develops into a strange love story, introducing the couple of Ippei and Yuko to establish a complex relationship between the main characters. Although told in a meandering way, the underlining story explores concepts of facades, psychological self-entrapment, seduction and violence.

Yukio Mishima, the pen name for Kimitake Hiraoka, was not only known for his political extremist activities but also considered as one of the most prominent and important Japanese authors of the 20th century. Born in 1925 in Tokyo, he graduated 22 years later from Tokyo Imperial University to continue to write novellas, novels and for kabuki plays until his early untimely death in 1970. Mishima’s works are often noted to be characterised by exuberant vocabulary and decadent concepts both combining traditional Japanese and modern western elements.

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