Very excited to update the news on the event I’ve planned for August 8^th – Remembering Hiroshima and Nagasaki… (live and livestreamed from Sands Films Studios, London SE16 4HZ).  Myself and Japanese violinist Chihiro Ono will be joined by ANTONY OWEN, peace poet, reading from and talking about his work.

Described by Joseph Horgan as “the bravest British poet of his generation,” Antony Owen, from Coventry, is one of the leading writers of war and peace poetry active today.  His collection The Nagasaki Elder was shortlisted for the coveted Ted Hughes Award and his work is taught at regular poetry workshops in Hiroshima.  This event is supported by CND, with all donations being shared by Sands Films and CND.  It will be available for a while afterwards online. Register here:  https://sandsmusic.eventive.org/schedule/667d39806749e300a686d8c1 

Thursday August 8^th  – 7.30pm  (live and also livestreamed)  Sands Films Studios, Rotherhithe, London SE16 4HZ   

THE PRIEST’S TALE – with Michael Mears and violinist Chihiro Ono

The riveting story of a miraculous suitcase, a daring escape and the devastation wreaked on a city in one instant by one bomb…

Newly revised and staged for live performance, THE PRIEST’S TALE by actor/playwright Michael Mears is his adaptation of one of the atomic-bomb survivors’ accounts from John Hersey’s remarkable book HIROSHIMA.

Father Wilhelm was a German Jesuit priest living in Hiroshima, who survived the blast but witnessed much of the destruction.  THE PRIEST’S TALE is a clear-eyed depiction of the pity of war…and of the terror wrought at the start of our nuclear age…told with compassion, warmth and flashes of humour…   

Live musical accompaniment will be provided by London-based Japanese violinist CHIHIRO ONO.  After the 1 hour (approx.) performance there will be a Q and A and a guest speaker – details tbc.

This event is supported by CND, with all donations being shared by Sands Films and CND.  Register here :  https://sandsmusic.eventive.org/schedule/667d39806749e300a686d8c1 

‘An extraordinary piece of theatre.  Exceptional performance, incredible script.’   Jo Siedlecka INDEPENDENT CATHOLIC NEWS