Monday 4 October 2010

theatre worth attending: the love suicides at sonezaki.


running from the 4th to the 6th of october, the love suicides at sonezaki, a moving piece of 16th century puppetry theatre by japanese dramatist, chikamatsu monzaemon and adapted by peter case, will be staged in the beautiful setting of wilton’s music hall.

chikamatsu is widely regarded as one of the greatest japanese dramatists in history and this love –suicide play is considered the most popular of his ‘domestic tragedies’. it is a short play in three scenes, staged over a day and a night. the love story centers around two characters, a young orphan merchant clerk named tokubei and the courtesan, ohatsu and sensitively charts their heartbreak. the play was inspired by real life suicides that took place may 22nd 1703, which the writer discovered in a newspaper .

inspired in design and direction by japanese animation and manga, peter case has adapted the story while trying to remain as true to the nature of the original text as much as possible. the show will also feature live anime inspired videos that blend with the performances on stage and music performed and curated by peter sheppard-skaerved. in an effort to really get you into the spirit of the evening, they will also be serving up specially made sushi and saki in the bar beforehand. and if that wasn’t enough, the fact that it’s being staged in wilton’s, the oldest grand music hall in the world, is enough to get our bums on the seats. see you there for some saki…


[the lowdown]
what: the love suicides at sonezaki
where: wilton’s music hall, 1 graces alley, london, e1 8jb.
when: 4-6th of october at 8pm.
tickets: £12 (£10 conc) box office: 020 7702 2789 or [
www.wiltons.org.uk/]


[aine herlihy]

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