REVIEW: HINOHARA VILLAGE at Barons Court Theatre 27 Feb – 2 Mar 2024

‘preserving untold stories and folktales from remote areas of Japan’ ★★★★

It is always fascinating to attend a live performing art form about a culture that we may not be very familiar with. Many were being transported to a place where we have never been before, and encountered several characters on the journey to the untouched remote village in the mountainous area of Tokyo. Hinohara Village, its residents and the storytellers themselves were delightfully captivating as if they had just stepped out from the newly translated Japanese folktales book in the basement of Barons Court Theatre.

We were entertained by and treated to some absurd, strange, unusual and nostalgic stories told by three storytellers who live in the Hinohara village, Yoshikane san, Yoshitada san, and Tsujiko san. They invited us into their world and the interesting characters they came across during their lifetime, and we found ourselves drawn to and enjoying the company of Yamamba the eater of humans, the cursed execution tree, the two hairy ogre-women, the drunken carpenter with death on his face, the lucky spider, the necromantic cat, the local giant who likes to help build aqueducts, and the mask with a taste for blood.

These folktales were performed by the talented actors, Shinako Wakatsuki and Gavin Harrington-Odedra through storytelling, dance movements, physical theatre, and song. The transition between the various scene sketches was smoothly executed with interludes of folk songs, sung in the original Min'yō style of Japanese accompanied folk singing and beautiful traditional music played by Sherry Sugita on traditional Japanese musical instruments, the shamisen and the Binzasara.

Hinohara Village was produced by Doubtful Sound, a theatre company from Tokyo currently based in London. They are passionate about preserving untold stories and folktales from remote areas of Japan, and through their research, translating, and performing of the traditional stories and folktales, they have ensured that these do not get lost.

HINOHARA VILLAGE at Barons Court Theatre 27 Feb – 2 Mar 2024

Translated/written by Doubtful Sound Theatre Company and Mihoko Takatsu

Performed by - Shinako Wakatsuki and Gavin Harrington-Odedra

Director - Andrew Wakatsuki-Robinson

Musician - Sherry Sugita

Doubtful Sound website http://doubtfulsound.asia/

Reviewed by Melanie Lam