“No matter what type of role I receive, in order to be able to live it, to be completely imbued with it, I’m always thinking that I want to be an empty, blank white box.”

Big eyes that give her a striking look; dancing so light it’s as if gravity doesn’t apply to her; highly praised, subtly nuanced acting; and this sexiness that captures the heart of anyone who looks at her so quickly it’s startling… That’s Moon Troupe’s otokoyaku star Miya Rurika. Her natural talent alone is a safe bet, but when it comes to enthusiasm for acting, no one is more passionate.

“When I’m getting into a role, I always start by disavowing myself and affirming the character. As I’ve gotten older and gained more experience, the way I define myself and my system of values have taken shape inside me. While I think that’s totally normal, it gets in the way when I’m acting. For example, when I play a villain, as long as there’s a part of me thinking ‘this is bad,’ I can’t really live as that character.”

On a routine basis, she makes no assumptions that she is a certain way. The things she sees, hears, touches… without showing deference to her personal preferences and ideas, if she’s curious about something she tries it out. She has the same flexible attitude when it comes to her personal relationships. She places great importance on accepting others for who they are and not rejecting their points of view. In her day to day life she strives not to get fixated on her own system of beliefs. That, too, is all for the sake of her acting.

“What I’m really thankful for is up till now I’ve been blessed with opportunities to play a huge variety of characters, from lunatics to heartthrobs to old men… Among them, the ones that had a particularly big impact on me were the female roles. Sujimi in the 2009 version of Legend of the Great King and Four Gods Ver. II was my first female role, and at the time it worried me tremendously. Like if I entered Takarazuka because I’d longed to be an otokoyaku, what’s the point if I’m going to be playing female roles? I wonder if I don’t look like an otokoyaku? etc. But, that made me notice something. No matter what role you’re dealing with, one thing is always the same: it has a ‘soul’ to it. And if you play it, you’re an ‘actor.’ As soon as I tried to chip off the part of myself that identified as an otokoyaku and faced the role itself, it became a lot of fun. I was able to perform with no sense of discomfort… and ever since then I’ve thought I need to make sure I don’t let my own beliefs tie me down.”

As a consequence of facing her roles head on and immersing herself in them thoroughly, there have also been a number of times when her characters’ traits have found their way into her daily life. When she played Charles Artois in 1789, she says, “I was overflowing with all these dark feelings just like the character, and seeing myself like that gave me goosebumps.” In Grand Hotel when she played Otto Kringelein, who had a terminal illness, “I fell into this feeling that my body was really being eaten by disease, and my health actually suffered,” she explains. Additionally, looking back on playing the dangerously-living Mercutio in Romeo and Juliette, she says, “I was driven by all these impulses to do really strange things, to the point where I couldn’t sleep at night. In rehearsal I really worried the instructors, to say nothing of all the direction they had to give me.”

“Going through every day feeling like that, it is pretty hard to reset. For example, after I played Otto it was like I forgot how to walk properly. Even though I’d stood on stage as an otokoyaku countless times up until that point, I was like how the heck am I supposed to walk with swagger? (laughs).”

A truly astonishing passion for performing. Regarding her uniquely Miya-esque aesthetics and theories about acting, “Of course there were many times I felt lost and worried, but recently, I feel like I’ve discovered the formula,” she says with a smile. With the sparkling expression of a young kid, she keenly conveys her feelings. “I really love acting.”

“I just had a conversation like this with Tsukishiro Kanato a little while ago. She had just transferred to Moon Troupe, and her first show as a member of Moon Troupe was Ruriiro no Toki, which I led. She had such an enthusiasm for studying and hit me with all kinds of questions, and during rehearsal we talked not just about acting theory but all kinds of things. I myself transferred to Moon Troupe in my ninth year, just like she did. Since I can understand her feelings of anxiety… to start things off I laid it all out there, and then I was able to pry open the door to her heart (haha).”

From her earnest attitude toward the stage and her low voice, along with her dignified appearance, many people have a cool image of her, but underneath all that she is a warm, frank person overflowing with love.

“For some reason it seems like I often come off as cold. Because of that, when I’m talking to someone I try really hard to open up my heart fully. Like ‘it’s alright, I’m not scary’ (haha). In reality, I’m normally not cool at all. On the contrary I’m usually all over the place; I’m the type of person who’s always getting called out like ‘Did you lose something again?’ ‘What did you do this time?’ from the people around me. When we stay over in various cities during national tours, it’s when the underclassmen come tapping on my hotel room door that I finally get out of bed. I’ll leave my room to eat breakfast while still half asleep, that sort of thing happens all the time (laughs).”

But regarding the stage, she has these words of love. “Before I was always frantic and tended to be conscious only of myself. But now, I’ve come to be able to think about the audience more than anything. That’s probably because of the surplus of self-confidence I’ve gained with the accumulation of experience… This might be a grandiose expression, but I feel like I’m embracing everyone in the audience, and recently more than ever I feel strongly that the theater and everyone in the audience are precious.”

Her love for the audience and her passion for performing never wane, only increase. “I’m happy with this version of myself,” she says about the current Miya Rurika, in her 15th year as an otokoyaku. When we asked where she wants to go from here, her answer was very fitting.

“There are people who look at me and cheer, there are people who want me… I’ve been performing on stage continuously for over 10 years, but even now I constantly think wow, that’s a miracle. As long as there is even one person who wants me, I want to stand on stage for that person. Going forward, while taking in everything around me, I want to continue pouring out all of my passionate enthusiasm and expressing myself honestly and with no regrets.”