Following their sell out Mishima Double Bill of "Sotoba Komachi" & "Damask Drum" at Greenwich Playhouse in 2004, StoneCrabs Theatre is thrilled to be back with another Yukio Mishima double bill: Hanjoand Hell Screen. Both plays are infused with a strong sense of loneliness, and the need for, pursuit and possession of love. Mishima’s characters become tragic heroes/heroines trapped inside their own desires. Framed within the poetry of the playwright’s modern texts, derived from the constructs of Noh (a major formof classic Japanese music drama) and Kabuki (highly stylised classical Japanese dance-drama), these plays explore contemporary issues which have pre-occupied us since time immemorial. Hanjo - In this bittersweet story of unrequited love, the beautiful Hanako looks for her lover, Yoshio, at a train station. With an opened fan in her arms, peering into the face of every man who alights, she returns each time disappointed to her waiting-room bench. Will her lover return to her, or will she continue her lonely search. Meanwhile. Jitsuko, who bought Hanako from her geisha contract, does all she could to retain the status quo. Hell Screen - When Yoshihide is commissioned by the Lord Horikawa to paint Hell, he sets about having his sadistic vision recreated live before him so that he may paint it with measured strokes... Revealed in a cup of sake with a crimson maple leaf floating on it, his conceit comes with a hellish twist - causing a beautiful maiden to be roasted alive in the inferno of a falling carriage. Such is the price of true art.| 16 Jun 09 to 4 Jul 09 | Ovalhouse Inner London, Greater London Performance Details => Venue archive |
