Hanjo at Oval House Theatre

StoneCrabs Theatre, UK
 
Director – Franko Figueiredo
Set & Costume Designer – WaiYin Kwok
Lighting Designer – Pablo Fernandez Baz
Video Artist – James Scott
Performers – Stuart Brown, Rufus Graham, Filip Krenus, Meg Kubota, Seamus Newham, Masayo Okayasu, Ecco Shirasaka & Yuka You-Ri Yamanaka
Photographer – Mariam Alonso

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. 

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.

 “Wai Yin Kwoks design of paper screens, tatami mats and vermillion falling leaves is ravishing, as is the dancing of Yuka You-Ri Yamanaka, dressed in and exquisite silk kimono.” – Sam Marlowe, Time Out

“Just as the Japanese like to present their food carefully arranged and purchases beautifully wrapped, designer Wai-Yin Kwok has given them a very elegant setting.” – Howard Loxton, The British Theatre Guide

Wai Yin Kwok’s inspirational open-plan set, with its raised central area of 12 large low-cushioned tiles, serves for both the interior of the house in the first piece and the courtyard of the second, after the central tiles are removed to reveal a pond. The maple leaf is a crucial symbol, and the surrounding areas of the stage are scattered with them in Autumn colours. In the first piece four panels at the back serve as a screen onto which is projected a tree whose leaves fall during the performance leaving only two at the end, reflecting the resolution of the piece whilst in the second a single leaf becomes a symbol for death.” – Dave Jordan, Whats on Stage