Jemma Khan and David Viviers acting out a scene of the play during production in 2019. The projection used as part of kamishibai is visible. Photo: Mark Wessels
The Standard Bank Young Artist for Theatre 2018, Jemma Khan, used the method Kamishibai to enhance her play, Cellist with Rabies, performed during the Toyota US Woordfees, on 12 March.
Kamishibai, meaning “paper play”, is a Japanese storytelling method which saw heightened popularity in the streets of Japan during the 1930s.
“Why did I use Kamishibai in this play? The idea for the delivery of the imagery – slides and microscope – developed alongside the concept: scientist falls in love with a virus. Form follows function,” Khan said.
The production follows the tale of despairing virologist Joan Remy, as she communicates and interacts with a rabies specimen. Kamishibai, in this case, is used via projectors against two boards to mimic the changing slides of a microscope.
Khan and Viviers on stage at Rhenish Girls High School during the Woordfees production last week. Photo: Fern Bamber
According to co-actor, David Viviers, it is through this method that Viviers is able to embody the virus in a manner easily grasped by the audience.
“Kamishibai is a very exciting mode of storytelling when we get it right. It seems to contain the same excitement of being read a story to as a child, and then being shown the pictures at the end of each page. It’s very theatrical and allows the actors and audience not to take it too seriously,” Viviers said.
Viviers said that he believes there is something quite innocent and magical about the method, which appeals to people.
Cellist with Rabies is not the first theatrical piece in which Khan has utilised the technique.
“This is the fifth production where I have used kamishibai. Every time I do, I try something different with how the pictures are presented. With Cellist with Rabies, the development was the size jump: very small pictures to projection,” Khan said.
The play was also performed at art festivals and theatres in Grahamstown, Cape Town and Kwazulu-Natal.
Jemma Khan using kamishibai in her 2015 production, ‘We didn’t come to Hell for the croissants.’ Photo: Supplied