Kamishibai Theatre, Covid 19 friendly!
The Great Race!
For children aged 4-7yrs and their families
Duration 20minutes
Alongside the Olympic and Paralympic Games in Tokyo July 2021, A Thousand Cranes presents, The Great Race! which tells the story of how the Eastern Zodiac calendar was created. It is presented by story-teller, Haruka Kuroda.
Legend has it, that the Jade Emperor asks twelve creatures to take part in a great race to decide which years in the Zodiac calendar they will look after. Their years depend on the order in which they finish. Who will come in first? Will it be the wily Snake, the magnificent Dragon or the spirited Rat? Expect lots of fun, plenty of drama, and many surprises, as the race presents all sorts of problems for those taking part.
Kamishibai Theatre is a traditional way of telling stories from Japan, which started in the 1920s.
Japanese sweet sellers and storytellers travelled from town to town, village to village, with their Kamishibai, - a half picture frame, half theatre stage, – strapped to the back of their bicycle. When they had set-up, they would wooden clappers (hyoshigi) to attract the children, and then sell them sweets. Then, when everyone was settled, the Kamishibai man would start telling a story – pulling each of the numbered storyboards from the side, and sliding it at the back of the stack, one after the other. The children who had bought sweets were allowed to sit at the front! Each show usually has about ten picture-boards, with large bold pictures.
You might like to make your own Kamishibai theatre and tell a story to your friends?
Show info:
Performer: One. No stage manager
Duration: 20mins
Performance area: Inside or out, 20mx20m open space, with good acoustics
Audience number: 50
Get-in, get-out: One hour
Technical requirements: adequate lighting on performer
Music: operated by performer