Rakugo featuring Katsura Sunshine & Luca Cupani

Rakugo featuring Katsura Sunshine & Luca Cupani bring their unique show to the Leicester Square each month for the rest of the year. Canadian Sunshine and Italian Luca combine stand-up and 400-year-old Japanese comic storytelling for the first time. The show is now in its third year in London with Luca joining Sunshine from 2023 and with Rakugo celebrating its 5th year on Broadway.

The stories of Rakugo have been passed down from master to apprentice aurally through the centuries. Every story is preceded by a comic monologue which consists of the individual storyteller’s own “material”, much like stand-up comedy.

Toronto born Sunshine has been living in Japan for more than 20 years and in 2008 he became the 15th apprentice to the great Rakugo Master Katsura Bunshi VI, from whom he received the name Katsura Sunshine. Luca is considered the most British of the new generation of Italian comedians, not just because of his double citizenship, but also because of his style and quirky dry humour.

The pair met for the first time at the Edinburgh Fringe in 2014, where they realised they had many things in common: they were both expats (Katsura in Japan, Luca in England), they were both performers with a background in Classics and they were both performing comedy in a second language. Now they finally get to share the stage together in the West End: Sunshine performs in English Rakugo and Luca performs a stand-up set and a short Rakugo story.