The
Kimono Loosened is a story of a family
fragmented and torn apart by personal desires.
At the centre of this compelling story exists
a
woman, Tsukiyo, sold to a Geisha house at a
young age by her father. On her journey back to
freedom she is accompanied by a special doll, a
doll made by a master’s hand, a doll possessing
a spirit… a living doll.
Sakura was a doll made
by Tsukiyo’s father for her mother and then
subsequently passed down to her.
Kawahisa was inspired by one of the
most famous
Japanese author, who was a great admirer of
Edgar Allen Poe, named himself “Edogawa
Rampo”, his short story of “ Hitodenashi no Koi”
(A tragic love story about a man and a doll.
Unfortunately never translated.) and wrote
this
intense, emotionally wrenching, powerful drama
that breaks down a cultural barrier.
The
Kimono Loosened was specifically written for the
Vancouver Fringe Festival 2000. The show
opened
with three friends and a Fringe volunteer in the audience and closed with a
sold out house.
Since
then it has gone on to perform at the UNO Festival of Solo performance in
Victoria, The BC
Festival
of the Arts in Fort St. John and Fringe Festivals in Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto,
Edmonton
and
Calgary. This solo tour-de-force performance
received very positive reviews wherever it played
and
was remounted at the Vancouver Fringe in 2003 to sold-out audiences and glowing
reviews.
See Reviews
Yuki
Kawahisa is both writer and solo performer
of
The Kimono Loosened. Kawahisa originally went
to
Vancouver, Canada as an ESL student in 1998. She
was
a poor English speaker and hated studying
grammar.
She never thought she would write a play
in
English until she met the director of The Kimono
Loosened,
Maureen Robinson. She took Robinson’s
theatre
classes and went on to write three plays. The
Kimono
Loosened being the third. In 2003, she joined
the
Dell’Arte International School of Physical
Theatre’s
Abroad Program and traveled to Bali to
study mask,
dance and Wayang Kulit (traditional
shadow
puppet theatre). While there she was inspired
to begin
writing her next Fringe Project. She hopes
one day
to live in Vancouver, Canada and to have
her own
dog. She is currently studying at The Lee
Strasburg
Theatre and film Institute and getting her
first
theatre training from world best teachers.
Maureen
Robinson is both dramaturge and director of this theatrical
piece.
She was
a teacher and taught play building and theatre at the International
Language
Schools of Canada where she continues to work as a Program
Director.
She has inspired students –such as Kawahisa- to become involved
in
theatre. She is a director, actress and award-winning playwright.
Sakura
was made by a master doll maker’s hand at
Ningyo -doll-
Tomo. In
Japan there are many traditional
stories and mysteries that
revolve around these dolls.
Stories of hair that grows
and tears that are shed, of
strange movements at
midnight and of curses brought to
fruition. Sakura may be one
of those.
You
can see beautiful dolls like Sakura at
Atelier
Tsukiko, “Tsukiko” means “Moon Child” in
Japanese. Kawahisa
used to use this company name
for
her flower designing business. When she needed to
come
up with a company name for her Fringe production,
she
thought, “I’m an alien to Western people and things I
bring
are mystery to them. I’m like a child of the moon.
Why
not use that name again?” This piece is very
Japanese.
The director, Robinson tried
to ensure it wouldn’t have a
Western
bias – as much as is humanly possible with her
years
of Western living. Atelier Tsukiko hopes to
continue
to
develop and perform work that represents Kawahisa’s
cultural
background and to bring both traditional and
modern
stories internationally.