How Anne went to Japan: P.E.I.’s Confederation Centre looks to create new work | 24CA News
Charlottetown’s Confederation Centre of the Arts is hoping to create a brand new piece of theatre involving the character of Anne Shirley.
It will not be an adaptation of certainly one of L.M. Montgomery’s novels, although. It can be primarily based on a biography of the lady who translated Anne of Green Gables into Japanese about eight many years in the past.
“In the discovery of reading this book, Anne’s Cradle, we found the source for what we believe would be an amazing piece of collaborative theatre between two countries,” stated the centre’s creative director, Adam Brazier.
Anne’s Cradle is the story of Hanako Muraoka. It was written by her granddaughter Eri Muraoka and printed in English in 2021 with a translation by Cathy Hirano.
When Brazier learn the work, he was taken with Muraoka’s story.
“With Anne’s Cradle, I get this amazing appreciation of how a shared culture can lift each other, that the rising tide can float both boats, and that we find an amazing connection with people on the other side of the world through one story,” stated Brazier.
The story of how this e-book was translated and the story of Hanako’s life is totally, infinitely charming.— Adam Brazier, Confederation Centre of the Arts
Now, the centre is searching for a bilingual playwright who can adapt the work for the stage. The name for submissions went out earlier this month and closes Dec. 31.
Mainstreet PEI6:35Anne’s Cradle
If you are a Japanese-Canadian playwright or author, the Confederation Centre of the Arts might have a job for you. The centre is searching for a author to adapt a e-book referred to as Anne’s Cradle. It’s the story of how Anne of Green Gables was first translated into Japanese and went on to develop into a runaway bestseller and finally a basic in Japan. We communicate with Adam Brazier, creative director of the centre.
The work can be introduced in each Japanese and English, utilizing subtitles, stated Brazier, so the centre hopes to discover a Japanese-Canadian dramatist who’s fluent in each languages — “someone who has the influence of both countries and an understanding and a lived experience of both nationalities.”
‘What an exquisite thought’
Hanako Muraoka’s granddaughter Eri was shocked to obtain an e-mail from Brazier one 12 months in the past.
“I was happy that he found my little book and read it. And when I heard about his idea of adapting this story for the stage through a collaboration between Canadians and Japanese, I thought, ‘What a wonderful idea,'” Muraoka wrote in an e-mail to 24CA News.
“I have a strong desire for Canadians to know not only my grandmother’s achievements, but also the efforts of the many Canadian women missionaries who worked for the education of girls in Japan.”
Hanako Muraoka attended a Christian boarding faculty the place these missionaries taught, and it was there that she fell in love with English literature.
Later, a Canadian buddy gave her a duplicate of Anne of Green Gables as a present. She started translating the novel throughout the Second World War, working in secret as a result of English was thought-about the language of certainly one of Japan’s enemies.
“The story of how this book was translated and the story of Hanako’s life is absolutely, infinitely captivating,” stated Brazier. “With that translation began a cultural shift … for the entire country of Japan. It offered young Japanese girls access and affirmation to their imaginations, to their voices, to their independence.”
The love affair continues to this present day. Anne of Green Gables has impressed legions of Japanese vacationers to return go to P.E.I. and Green Gables over the many years.
Finalists can be requested for scenes
The Confederation Centre plans to pick a bunch of finalists from the playwright submissions it receives and fee these folks to translate a couple of scenes from the e-book earlier than deciding on the ultimate candidate, stated Brazier.
The centre is not ruling out a musical remedy for this new work, however Brazier is aware of a play will doubtless take much less time to develop.
“We’re not ignorant to the fact that, you know, it took Tell Tale [Harbour] five years. Maggie, [the musical] we’re doing next year, took eight years to get to the stage,” stated Brazier.
“So we’re aware that this process is long, that to develop a show well, and to develop a show that will have an interest outside of a single production, takes time.”
Sharing tradition, studying from one another
Anne of Green Gables has develop into a basic in Japan, which suggests it may be simple to “forget its true value and appreciation,” stated Muraoka.
“Perhaps Anne’s Cradle reminded us why Anne of Green Gables is so special to us Japanese and to Canadians as well.”
The centre’s objective is to have a public studying of the brand new piece of theatre in 2025 in Osaka, the place Anne of Green Gables: The Musical had its Japanese premiere 27 years in the past.
“The Japanese people have such a bond with the character of Anne Shirley,” stated Brazier. “This is a way for us to partner, to learn from each other, to grow as artists and as an organization, and to share culture.”
