I only yesterday returned home (by what felt like an endless onslaught of coaches, planes and trains) from Japan, where I've been for the past few weeks as the director of a tour of Twelfth Night. It was simply amazing both to explore Japan and perform for audiences far different to the team's usual audience (which mainly consists of Cambridge arts students - whom, incidentally, we return to performing for tomorrow).

I was really surprised by how many audiences seemed to 'get' Shakespeare in Japan - many people were losing their Shakespeare virginity with our show, yet our original assumption that the dancing, singing and physical comedy would be the most successful elements in performance, with audiences not really following the plot(s) was totally defied. Following various students seeing our show, the University of Tokyo will, wonderfully, be staging a production of Twelfth Night next year.

When 600 people turned up for a performance in a 450-seater venue, the reaction was refreshingly (albeit slightly worrying from a health and safety perspective) to simply let everyone in and those who couldn't sit simply stood or perched wherever there was space. I think it was the rather pleasantly Shakespearean nature of the audience being a mass of people spilling out into every available space that felt so lovely about the situation, and also made that particular performance such a lively and vivid one.

Unfortunately, I didn't manage to watch any Japanese theatre whilst out there - all I saw was a panto-like show recorded for television - but enjoyed seeing some street performers in local parks. Their style felt so familiar, being so similar to that I've seen in Edinburgh and Covent Garden. One performer I watched (with tricks based around flies appearing/disappearing from small paddles) put me instantly in mind of The Boy With Tape On His Face - he of course talked, but my Japanese being what it is (about four words) it was as of much practical use to me as the Boy's silence.

I'll probably post more about the tour soon (after we've got through our home run and see what UK audiences make of the show) but for now sleep is a big priority.