Sumida River in Sign Language
2018 - 2022
Chisato Minamimura and Brian Duffy in Sumida River in Sign Language, Kings Place.
Photo: Mayumi Hirata / Noh Reimagined
Sumidagawa is a medieval Japanese Noh (mask) play by Kanze Motomasa (c.1394-1432).
What More? Productions reinterpreted this moving tale through Japanese and British Sign Language by Deaf performers, Chisato Minamimura and Brian Duffy, with direction by Verity Lane, choreography by Stephanie Daw, voiced interpretation by Elizabeth Oliver and percussion by Beibei Wang & Akinori Fujimoto. In this way, the traditional emphasis on the feet, which is usual in Noh theatre, is relocated to the hands, creating a gestural drama of anguish and resolution.
Chisato Minamimura as the Mother in Sumida River in Sign Language, The British Museum.
Photo: Mike Skelton
Sumida River in Sign Language trailer by Mike Skelton
Sumida River tells the story of a mother’s search for her son, abducted by child traders. Travelling across Japan, she arrives at the banks of the Sumida River where she finds he has perished. In some versions, a ghostly child appears by the grave mound and calls out to her, then vanishes.
Chisato Minamimura and Brian Duffy, Kings Place. Photograph: Mayumi Hirata / Noh Reimagined
Sumida River in Sign Language was performed as part of the Noh Reimagined Festival at Kings Place in June 2022. It was then shown as part of Grimeborn at The Arcola and at The British Museum in September 2022.
CAST
MOTHER - Chisato Minamimura
FERRYMAN - Brian Duffy
GHOST CHILD - Stephanie Daw
MUSICIANS - Beibei Wang/Akinori Fujimoto
VOICE - Elizabeth Oliver
CREATIVE TEAM
CONCEPT/PRODUCER - Deborah Nash
DIRECTOR/COMPOSER - Verity Lane
COSTUMES - Mirei Yazawa
PROPS - Harriott Knuckles
LIGHTING - Nao Nagai
ASSISTANT TO DIRECTOR - Martha Coleman
STAGE MANAGER - Nat Scase
MOTHER:
I lived for many years at Kita-Shirakawa,
in the northern district of Miyako.
One day, alas, disaster struck,
when my only son,
enticed away by child traders,
vanished from my side.
I searched for him,
and learned they had spirited him away eastward,
across the Osaka Pass,
to distant lands, to unknown Azuma.
News so distressing I felt my mind lose its grip on ordinary things...
From Sumidagawa, translation by Royall Tyler, re-worked by Deborah Nash
PROPS
Harriott Knuckles is the
prop-maker for the Mound where the ghost child is hidden. She made this structure from materials collected while walking her dog, Cedric.
