Ismene / The Underground by Makoto Satoh
Japanese Playreading in English

Ismene and The Underground are taken from ‘Hello, Hero! Three Episodes in the Unending Ending’, a trilogy of plays based on Sophocles’ Antigone. Ismene tells the Antigone story from the point of view of the heroine’s younger sister. Whilst the events set in motion by her elders radically reshape her world, Ismene is too young and powerless to rebel. The best she can do is watch, wait and continue to long for salvation. The Underground centres on Oedipus, Antigone’s father; portrayed as the driver of an underground train who has been travelling the same route for three thousand years. Everyone assumes that he knows where he is going, but he is blind and in fact does not. Describing a world hurtling inevitably towards catastrophe, both plays comment trenchantly on power politics in 1960s Japan, following the renewal of the U.S.–Japan Mutual Security Treaty with which many of the post-war generation struggled to come to terms.

The readings will be followed by a Q&A with the playwright Makoto Satoh.

Booking:
This event is free to attend but booking is essential. To reserve a place, please email your name and the title of the event you would like to attend to event@jpf.org.uk.