Theatre Journal

Anan, Nobuko.
Hiroshima Maiden (review)
Theatre Journal - Volume 58, Number 4, December 2006, pp. 690-692

The Johns Hopkins University Press

Nobuko Anan - Hiroshima Maiden (review) - Theatre Journal 58:4 Theatre Journal 58.4 (2006) 690-692 Muse Search Journals This Journal Contents Reviewed by Nobuko Anan University of California, Los Angeles Hiroshima Maiden. Written and directed by Dan Hurlin. Roy and Edna Disney / CalArts Theater, Los Angeles. 6 November 2005. Dan Hurlin's Hiroshima Maiden attempts to expose an American audience to the invisible history of survivors / victims of the atomic bomb by using techniques inspired by Japanese bunraku puppetry. An impressive array of puppets and elaborate props, all dexterously controlled by nine puppeteers, accompany a tayû (bunraku chanter, who narrates the story and also impersonates the characters) played by Hurlin himself. Based on actual events surrounding the 1955 visit to the United States of twenty-five deformed female Hiroshima survivors to receive plastic surgery, the play juxtaposes the victims' plight with the cheerful, generous, and physical beauty-oriented world of 1950s America. Unlike the real episode, which featured several survivors of the blast, here we meet only Michiko, whom Hurlin interviewed in Hiroshima in 2001....