'A COMPELLING DRAMA OF CHILLING RELEVANCE'

by Michael Mears in London, Greater London, United Kingdom

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Will you help us take THE MISTAKE, a play with a profoundly urgent message on the dangers of nuclear weapons, to a wider American audience?

by Michael Mears in London, Greater London, United Kingdom

It's 80 years since atomic bombs were dropped on two Japanese cities.

Though I live in London, I feel as if I’ve been living in Hiroshima, Japan, for a number of years, as I’ve been reading and researching so many books and interviews about what happened when the first atomic bomb was dropped on the city in 1945.  (The second atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki three days later.)

In 2022 and 2023 we performed THE MISTAKE, the play I subsequently wrote, around the UK, with no public arts funding - just the enthusiastic support of crowdfunders and one or two small organisations.  But this year, the 80th anniversary of the atomic bombings, I feel compelled to take the play further afield to the USA and to Japan.

Performing THE MISTAKE in the USA

We will be in the USA for all of April and the first two weeks of May.

Performing first at a couple of universities in Indiana as well as at a few other venues in Pennsylvania and upstate New York before a three-week run in New York City itself in a small off-Broadway venue – where we are on a box-office split.  The tour is an expensive undertaking, as you can imagine, with re-rehearsals in London in March, then airfares, accommodation, transportation within the USA, various other costs, and salaries and fees for my co-performer and collaborators – though once again I have chosen to be unpaid myself, in order to help the tour go ahead. Some expenses will be covered by the universities and other venues, and we hope there will be box-office income in New York, but there will still be a shortfall.  

The budget for the tour is around £40,000, and we hope to receive something in the region of £15,000 in box office and expenses.  That leaves a £25,000 shortfall. 

Potential sympathetic funding bodies in the UK won’t fund a project that goes abroad.  So this is where you come in.  Will you help us get this off the ground? Help us in our effort to enlighten, to illuminate, to change hearts and minds, through the emotional power of theatrical storytelling?   

I can’t recall who it was that said, ‘Statistics don’t bleed’.  But it’s true.  The stats around what happened in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the numbers of those who died instantly, those who died in the subsequent days and weeks, how many were injured, how many suffered from radiation sickness, are of course important.  But numbers can’t convey the reality, can’t connect with people, in the same powerful, immediate way audiences feel when experiencing deeply personal individual stories in the theatre.  

1737128825_2._michael_mears_and_riko_nakazono_in_the_mistake_-_photographer_simon_richardson.jpg(Michael Mears and Riko Nakazono in THE MISTAKE. Photo by Simon Richardson.)

Extraordinarily, there is nothing in the 'blockbuster' movie, OPPENHEIMER, referencing what actually happened in Hiroshima and Nagasaki.  Whereas our play THE MISTAKE puts the Japanese experience on the ground front and centre.

My resolve to make this tour happen was strengthened last summer when I met for the first time, face-to-face, a survivor from Hiroshima – a remarkable woman called Toshiko Tanaka (seen here, with me, in London).

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Hearing her story of that awful day, when she was just six, losing family and schoolfriends, the injuries she suffered herself and the lifelong health issues she has had to grapple with as a result of the atomic bomb, I felt compelled to get my play THE MISTAKE out to more people, to move them, enlighten them, get them to think, above all to feel the terrible cost on human lives of using these appalling weapons.

Will you join us?  Be part of this project, in however small a way, to help bring this play and its urgent themes and message to a wider, American, audience?  Be part of shining a light on the true consequences of using nuclear weapons?

What is perhaps most amazing about Toshiko Tanaka, now aged 86, is her willingness to forgive, her refusal to let hatred or bitterness have a place in her heart. In the last ten years she has welcomed into her home in Hiroshima the grandson of President Truman – the man who authorised the atomic bombing. Just think about that for a moment.  She has also welcomed the grandson of one of the crew of the Enola Gay, the B-29 bomber that dropped the bomb.  I find that astonishing. Inspirational.

In my play THE MISTAKE, too, there is a striving towards understanding and reconciliation…towards healing – which may not be achieved but is strived for nevertheless…

Is this play relevant today?

'But wait,' some might say, 'Isn’t this play just a historical drama?  Without any relevance today?'  No.  With Putin rattling his nuclear sabre and other leaders who possess nuclear weapons waging wars, the world feels more unstable than at any time since the end of WW2.  This is why the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, who set the  Doomsday Clock each year, indicating ‘how close to midnight we are’, have now set it at just 89 seconds to midnight – such is the state of things in the world currently.

A handful of the hundreds of feedback slips filled in by audiences on our UK tour…

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The play...

When the decision is made to use the atom bomb on Japan, Leo Szilard, nuclear physicist, tormented by his role in creating it, must do everything he can to prevent the catastrophe occurring.

When Colonel Paul Tibbets is given the go-ahead to drop the bomb, Shigeko Nomura, a young woman living in Hiroshima who survives her city’s destruction, must use every last ounce of energy to reach and rescue her parents.              

Two actors, one British, one Japanese, enact the compelling stories of a brilliant Hungarian scientist, a daring American pilot and a devoted Japanese daughter.  

1736520720_6._michael_mears_in_the_mistake_(photographer_simon_richardson).jpg

(Photo by Simon Richardson of Michael Mears as LEO SZILARD in THE MISTAKE.)

Partly using verbatim testimonies, THE MISTAKE is a compelling, moving and thought-provoking drama about the dangers that arise when humans dare to unlock the awesome power of nature.   

Reviews of the play – just a few of the comments from critics during our UK tour... 

‘The very personal accounts, particularly the use of diaries from hibakusha (survivors), make for a uniquely compelling and gripping production.’  (BRITISH THEATRE GUIDE) 

‘THE MISTAKE is a gripping historical drama that doesn’t overwhelm. You don’t end up leaving feeling the world is doomed. There is hope. The Mistake does what theatre does best. It makes you think. It challenges what you think you believe, what you think you know. It redresses historical bias and balance to the way we hear others’ histories and stories and gives them a chance to be heard.   (BACKSTAGEBRISTOL.com)    

‘A COMPELLING DRAMA OF CHILLING RELEVANCE...the creative use of minimal props, but also the striking physical contrast between the two actors, helps delineate the action as it unfolds with a pace and energy that is completely engrossing. Little wonder that they were rewarded by a standing ovation from the audience.  The play is a timely warning against a complacent assumption that such acts are consigned to history.’   (EAST ANGLIAN DAILY TIMES)

More audience feedback...

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 Key themes in the play...

The excitement of science, the urge to discover new frontiers – while not realising or taking into account what those discoveries could lead to…  

A young woman’s journey from innocence to experience.

The devastation of war.   Innocent victims.  Especially children.  

The dilemmas of conscience.   The powerlessness of scientists. 

The morality of warfare. 

1736519963_1._riko_nakazono_in_the_mistake_-_photographer_simon_richardson.jpg(Riko Nakazono as Shigeko in THE MISTAKE.  Photo by Simon Richardson.)            

‘Riko Nakazono is astonishing in her role as the Hiroshima survivor Shigeko Nomura, deftly taking the time to establish her personality before the bomb drops, making the aftermath even more staggering.’    (BRISTOL 24/7)    

1736520852_1._michael_mears_in_the_mistake_(photographer_simon_richardson).jpg(Photo by Simon Richardson of Michael Mears as TIBBETS in THE MISTAKE.)

‘Mears is a commanding presence on stage - as General Tibbets he is chilling in his lack of remorse and Mears’ portrayal of this as a military trait is executed flawlessly.’ (THEATRE TRAVELS. ORG)

1736521003_4._riko_nakazono_in_the_mistake_-_photographer_simon_richardson.jpg

(Riko Nakazono as Shigeko in THE MISTAKE.  Photo by Simon Richardson.)

‘Japanese actor Riko Nakazono, brings warmth and innocence to Shigeko Nomura, a resident in Hiroshima. It’s through her account, her diary, we experience the story of what happened. The cheery optimism she exudes at the start of the day is heartbreaking. Her love for her city that she believes has been spared due to its beauty perhaps as bleak as the moment the bomb falls.’ (BACKSTAGEBRISTOL.com)

Why am I doing this?  Why am I taking this financial risk?

I will fill any shortfall in the funding from my own limited savings. 

'But why?'  Because I feel compelled to do something.  

'But isn’t performing this play just a drop in the ocean?' 

Well of course I could stay at home, put my feet up, and watch reruns of 'Gavin and Stacey', but I’d rather get out there and be that drop in the ocean.

'Do you have any connection to Japan?'  No.  But I have always been opposed to nuclear weapons and searching for creative ways to grapple with this urgent issue.

Anyone old enough to remember the UK Government’s pamphlet, ‘Protect and Survive’, circulated in the late 1970s, advising us how to survive a nuclear attack, will remember it with a rueful smile.  How ridiculous that pamphlet was.

1736522506_protect_and_survive.jpeg     

The simple fact is that a nuclear war cannot be won and must never be fought. THE MISTAKE makes that reality painfully clear.

IN CONCLUSION

We want to offer THE MISTAKE to audiences as a gesture of peace and reconciliation.

We believe live theatre performance can be a powerful tool in changing people's hearts and minds, and in bringing about a deeper understanding of other perspectives.  It can also be a powerful medium for healing.

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If you are able to, in however small a way, please consider being part of our project to take THE MISTAKE out to a wider, American, audience.

Thank you.  From my heart.

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(Orphans in the aftermath of the Hiroshima atomic bombing.  Photo: Joe O'Donnell, courtesy Kimiko Sakai)

 

 

     

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Rewards

This project offers rewards in return for your donation. Please select a reward below.

£60 or more

2 of 12 claimed

£60 reward

A signed copy of a poetry collection by anti-war, anti-nuclear-weapons poet ANTONY OWEN, either 'POST-ATOMIC GLOSSARIES' or 'THE NAGASAKI ELDER'

£75 or more

1 of 15 claimed

£75 Reward

VISIT A REHEARSAL OF THE MISTAKE, IN LONDON, in late March or late August, to observe us at work.

£100 or more

1 of 10 claimed

£100 Reward

Two tickets for the price of one to see a live performance of THE MISTAKE. This can be passed on as a present.

£150 or more

1 of 10 claimed

£150 Reward

A RECORDING OF A LIVE PERFORMANCE OF THE MISTAKE for you to download.

£200 or more

1 of 5 claimed

£200 Reward

MEET THE CAST. Michael Mears and one or more of his collaborators will meet you for coffee and cakes at a very nice cafe (location to be decided) to discuss THE MISTAKE and the creative process of putting the production together and answer any other questions about his work.

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