Friends House event galvanises US tour
An encounter at Friends House has inspired a new play
The pacifist playwright Michael Mears is taking one of his plays to the US – inspired by an encounter at Friends House.
The Wandsworth Friend said he was encouraged to take his play The Mistake on a US tour after meeting atomic-bomb survivor Toshiko Tanaka at an event organised by CND and Britain Yearly Meeting in June 2024. The Mistake explores the catastrophic events surrounding the first atomic bomb. The play stars Michael Mears with actor Riko Nakazono. ‘Although I have spent much time reading and researching about Hiroshima and Nagasaki, it was only last year that I met a hibakusha (atomic-bomb survivor) for the first time,’ he said
Toshiko, who is eighty-six and lives in Hiroshima, spoke at the event, where Michael also read from his piece The Priest’s Tale. Initially, Michael thought: ‘What right have I to merely act out the story of an atomic-bomb survivor, when we have just heard two actual survivors share their terrifying experiences?’ But he was relieved to see that both hibakusha seemed moved by his reading, and he and Toshiko became email friends. ‘There were times last year when I thought perhaps I should forget it, and felt overburdened, but I knew I would be letting down, not only myself, but Toshiko and all the other remaining survivors – and all those who lost their lives due to the terrible events eighty years ago.’
The Mistake will run in New York City at 59E59 Theatre from 24 April to 11 May, following a series of performances in Indiana and Pennsylvania earlier in April. After five weeks in Japan in September, it will move to London’s Arcola Theatre in mid-October.
