Tokaido Road receives its London premiere

Concert, Opera & Vocal
Nicola LeFanu music
Nancy Gaffield libretto
Caroline Clegg director
Dominic Wheeler conductor
Okeanos

Jeremy Huw Williams Hiroshige
Caryl Hughes Mariko
Raphaela Papapdakis Kikuyo
Haruka Kuroda mime / poet

Caroline Clegg Director
Kimie Nakano Designer
Neville Billimoria Lighting
Wynn White Images
Kate Romano Producer
Stuart Calder Associate Producer

Nicola LeFanu’s acclaimed piece of music theatre, composed for Okeanos’s unique blend of Western and Japanese instruments, receives its London premiere. Through art, poetry, mime and music, Tokaido Road tells the story of the artist Hiroshige and his travels on Japan’s ancient Eastern sea road from Edo to Kyoto.

Through the projections of Hiroshige’s iconic woodblock prints, we see the artist savouring his adventures—not least the amorous ones. His paintings bring to life everyone he meets: old me and beautiful women, samurai and geisha, pilgrims, porters and passers-by. His work also reveals the darker side of life during the Edo period – natural disasters, censorship and famine.