KUNIO SHIMIZU (1936-2021) wrote his first play, Shomei-nin (A Man Who Signed His Name), in 1958 while he was an undergraduate at Waseda University, Tokyo. In 1968 he and Yukio Ninagawa established the theatre company Gendaijin-Gekijo (Theatre of Contemporary People). Their first play, Hearty but Flippant, marked Ninagawa’s debut as a director and he went on to direct the company’s next six plays, five of which were written by Shimizu. Having founded his own theatre company, Mokutou-sha, in 1974, Shimizu began to work in collaboration with Ninagawa again in 1982. Tango at the End of Winter was a major success of the 1988 Tokyo season.

PETER BARNES (1931 – 2004) wrote over fifty plays. His stage work includes Sclerosis (1965), Leonardo’s Last Supper (1969), Noonday Demons (1969), The Bewitched (1974), Laughter! (1978), Red Noses (1985), and Sunset and Glories (1990). He is also known for his adaptation of Frank Wedekind’s Lulu (1970), and Barnes’ People, a series of monologues, duologues and trilogues written specially for radio. He wrote nine screenplays including The Ruling Class (1972) and Enchanted April (1991). His last play, Jubilee, was staged by the RSC in 2001.