'THROUGH A DISTANT LENS' to Play Riverside Theatres in March

From 16 to 19 March, Riverside Theatres presents Yasukichi Murakami: Through A Distant Lens, the true story of Yasukichi Murakami, a Japanese-Australian photographer, entrepreneur and inventor who was a remarkable character in Northern Australia in the early 1900s.

Combining live action with photographic projections, video, original music and soundscape, Yasukichi Murakami: Through A Distant Lens is a contemporary framing of Murakami's life through the lens of modern day Japanese-Australian photographer and performance maker, Mayu Kanamori.

Yasukichi Murakami (played by Kuni Hashimoto) travelled from Japan to Australia in 1897 and became a photographer in Broome then Darwin. He lived the high life with Darwin's elite, until the outbreak of World War II saw him and his family, like all Japanese in Australia, interned as enemy aliens. Murakami's photographs were impounded and subsequently lost. Murakami died in internment.

Contemporary photographer Mayu Kanamori (played by Arisa Yura) goes in search of Murakami's lost photographs. Along her journey she uncovers a fascinating story of unlikely friendships, thwarted ambition and love.

Yasukichi Murakami: Through a Distant Lens is a meditation on love and truth in a digital age where cameras proliferate. It is a moving and poetic new production about the history of the Japanese in Australia, which adds to a very slim volume of Japanese Australian work for the stage.

Dates: 16 to 19 March at 7.30pm, 17 March at 12pm (plus Q&A), and 19 March at 2.15pm

Tickets: Adult $39 / Conc $34 / 30 and Under $25

Bookings: From the Box Office (02) 8839 3399 or www.riversideparramatta.com.au

Venue: Riverside Theatres - Corner of Church and Market Streets, Parramatta