““I was very much moved by the beautiful rendition of your text. It was wonderful to see how the various elements, which you and your collaborators have been working on with such passion and dedication, have coalesced so seamlessly.”
We were delighted to be able to complete the European tour of final phase of the Between the Stones project as an official event of the 2020 Japan-UK Season of Culture.
““I’m SO glad we squeezed this wonderful event in before the world closed down.” ”
Though we were aware of the major difficulties in China, and increasingly in Japan, the wider COVID-19 crisis was only 3 days old when the artists arrived in London on 27 January 2020. Now, at the time of writing this news update, the number of deaths from the virus in Europe and around the world has soared. These circumstances are unprecedented in modern history with all public events cancelled or postponed indefinitely; making the timing of the tour more fortuitous than any of us could have imagined. Not only was the tour able to proceed successfully, but it also included a number of unique aspects - perhaps most especially the first debut international visit of 11-year old Iori Oshima. We will list all of these in the tour report.
However, it is quite extraordinary to consider that one of the major unique factors that we may all reflect on in the years to come is that we may be one of now only a few world premiere live theatre events pre-pandemic 2020 to have taken place in London (perhaps in the world) in 2020 with all theatres in major cities now closed to the public. It is a bitter-sweet acknowledgement and one from which we take no joy. The devastation of the COVID-19 pandemic affects us all. So while we are pleased to have completed the tour successfully, our thoughts are much more focused on people around the world struggling to cope with this pandemic.
The story of Between the Stones gives focus to the tragic loss of loved ones. Giving this poignancy in 2020, we would like to send our love and best wishes to all who have suffered and continue to suffer. We would also like to pay homage to those essential workers who are struggling to keep us all safe and well around the world.
Please stay safe everyone!
The 2020 European Performance Tour was only possible with the support and encouragement of The Japan Foundation Performing Arts Japan Programme for Europe 2019-2020, Mitsubishi Corporation International (Europe) Plc, Mitsubishi Electric Europe B.V., the Daiwa Anglo-Japanese Foundation, the Great Britain Sasakawa Foundation (who funded Phase 2 - without this funding Phase 3 could not have happened), the Japan Society, and finally, the support of Embassy of Japan in London and our many other past and present collaborators and friends.
Our sincere thanks to them all for their shared vision, and incredible encouragment and support over the lifetime of the project.
The Between the Stones Team