…in livestreamed performances from the stage of Sands Films Studios Theatre, Rotherhithe, London…
AUGUST 6th
THE PRIEST’S TALE is an adaptation by actor/playwright Michael Mears of one of the survivor’s accounts from John Hersey’s classic book HIROSHIMA.
Father Wilhelm was a German Jesuit priest living in Hiroshima at the time of the first atomic bombing. His account is a compelling and clear-eyed description of his experiences that day and in the subsequent months and years – told with compassion and warmth.
At 7.30pm on August 6th, the 75th anniversary of the Hiroshima bomb, Michael Mears will perform this story live, with live violin accompaniment by Chihiro Ono. (Duration approx. 55 mins.) Directorial supervision by Rosamunde Hutt. This event is co-hosted by the Edinburgh Peace and Justice Centre.
https://vimeo.com/438259377 or https://www.facebook.com/events/934559037019595/
AUGUST 9th
THE DOCTOR’S TALE is a version by actor/playwright Michael Mears of NAGASAKI 1945, an account by a young doctor working in a small hospital in Nagasaki at the time of the second atomic bomb, detailing how he and his few staff, with very limited supplies, survived that day and the following weeks.
At 7.30pm on August 9th, the 75th anniversary of the Nagasaki bomb,
Japanese actor Leo Ashizawa will give a livestreamed reading of this story, with support from Michael Mears and with live musical accompaniment by Chihiro Ono.
(Duration approx. 75 minutes.)
https://vimeo.com/438273483 or https://www.facebook.com/events/3587327054630140/
We hope to raise money through donations to offer the two Japanese performers payment, for Sands Films streaming the event, and for CND.
These performances will be available for a while afterwards as well…
Michael Mears 
Both these works were were very moving stories. The simple, understated but vivid way each protagonist relates their experience of the horrific events, and the reality of the days afterwards, somehow emphasises the bleak reality of the devastation, and underlines the nightmare quality even more than a high cost American-produced movie would. Maybe the fact that those “action” films, with “superman heroes”, sometimes even “heroines”, are preferred by “us”, the public, shows the fact that “we” cannot accept the reality that this could all happen again. It would then make the current “restrictions” and difficulties many are suffering due to the corona virus look like a happy social picnic in contrast. The radio active “fallout” from the 1986 Chernobyl disaster, which gradually worked its way around the world, caused nearly 10 thousand farms to be “shut down” in the NW of England alone, and the last sheep flocks were only released from “quarantine” in 2012 (see online BBC report on this). So it is irrelevant almost where any nuclear bomb falls, eventually the “poison” will affect us all. Why don’t our leaders and politicians get this basic fact? Thank you for those brave stories. Linda M
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