FUKUSHIMA -- A Fukushima University theatrical performing study group has given new meaning to the show must go on, bringing down the curtain on its graduation production some eight-and-a-half months after the Great East Japan Earthquake forced it to be suspended.
FUKUSHIMA -- A Fukushima University theatrical performing study group has given new meaning to the show must go on, bringing down the curtain on its graduation production some eight-and-a-half months after the Great East Japan Earthquake forced it to be suspended.
On March 11, the study group was staging a drama, which started at 2 p.m., to celebrate the graduation of its senior members, in a multipurpose studio on the sixth floor of a building in Fukushima city.
The title of the drama was "Kimikageso wa Shiorashiku Doku wo Motte" (Lily-of-the-valley has poisons in a chastened manner), a historical fantasy written by group member Kazuya Seino, 21, then a junior. The story was based on "Ginga Tetsudo no Yoru" (Night on the galactic railroad), a novel by Kenji Miyazawa (1896-1933).
The drama, performed by five seniors and 18 younger members, should have lasted for one-and-a-half hours.
After 46 minutes, however, the massive temblor struck. The lighting equipment on the ceiling began noisily swaying. The performers held onto set props and speakers so that they would not tip over. They also guided spectators down the stairs to the lower floors and safety.
On that same day, the crisis also started at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant. Some of the performers evacuated to areas within Fukushima Prefecture while others fled to other prefectures.
The university's graduation ceremony, which had been scheduled for March 25, was canceled. The study group's annual farewell ceremony for its senior members was not held either.
The seniors began to work in April for companies and other organizations. In June, one of the former members, Shoko Ibaraki, 23, who was working for a company in Tokyo, visited some of the younger members.
In their conversation, they would recall their performance suspended by the March 11 disaster. That led them to wanting to finish the drama.
They started rehearsals in October. Ibaraki went to Fukushima to rehearse whenever she was off on the first bullet train in the morning.
On Nov. 27, after finishing the performance in the same studio in Fukushima as they started on March 11, Ibaraki said to spectators while weeping and bowing her head, "We were finally able to perform the drama again without problems."
Then, the spectators erupted in applause.
"With today's performance, our university days have finally ended. There is nothing we have left undone," said Sayaka Kumakiri, 23, who became a Fukushima city employee in April.