Deborah Nash on a unique production coming to the Town Hall By Waltham Forest Echo
Chisato Minamimura as the Mother (credit: After Hourz)
Next weekend, a production unlike anything the borough has ever seen before will come to the centre of Walthamstow.
Designed for both Deaf and hearing audiences, Sumida River in Sign Language is a re-imagining of a 600-year-old Japanese play, which tells the story of a mother travelling across the titular river to find her son after he was kidnapped by slave traders.
The production centres around two Deaf performers: Chisato Minamimura, who plays the mother, and Brian Duffy, who plays the ferryman she begs to take her across the river. The pair sign in Japanese and British Sign Language respectively to emphasise their different social standings, with a voice translation by Elizabeth Oliver, and dance to music by percussionist Beibei Wang. In order to allow the performers to respond to the music, some of the array of instruments are sewn into their costumes, allowing them to feel the vibrations.
The seeds of this idea were first planted a full decade ago when I read Sumida River shortly after watching a Shakespeare production performed in British Sign Language (BSL), which led me to wonder how it would benefit from a similar adaptation. While Sign Language conveys meaning through the hands, Noh plays like Sumida River are a form of dance-drama governed by movement of the feet and I thought it would be interesting to combine the two.
Though our production was lucky enough to get Arts Council funding, our path to the stage was delayed for two years by Covid, forcing us to replace our original director after he was unable to travel to us from Japan, with composer Verity Lane stepping in instead. However, we are now hugely delighted to have been picked by Waltham Forest Council for this summer’s event series at Fellowship Square.
Sumida River in Sign Language will make the most of our setting outside the new Town Hall, incorporating fountains, a water pool and projected shadows, and with a number of Japanese food stalls available. It promises to be an event that is both mystical and memorable.
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