The Damask Drum

An old man sweeping the stage of a theatre falls under the spell of a dancer rehearsing a show with her musician. She tells the old man she will be his if he can get a sound out of the silk drum she gives him. He bangs away on the drum, which remains stubbornly silent, and “disappears” out of disappointment. Like mirror images of the two protagonists, choreographer Kaori Ito and actor Yoshi Oida, all admiring complicity, interweave moments of dialogue and dance, accompanied by Makoto Yabuki's percussions. Freely adapted from a classic of Noh theatre, known in France thanks to Yukio Mishima's modern version as translated by Marguerite Yourcenar, Yoshi Oida asked his old friend Jean-Claude Carrière to rewrite this spellbinding story about unrequited desire, guilt, and liberation. With its unmistakably Japanese atmosphere, this is a universal story of transmission between a young woman who feels she is getting older and an old man who still feels young.

With Kaori Ito, Yoshi Oïda
And Makoto Yabuki

Direction and choreography Kaori Ito, Yoshi Oïda
Text Jean-Claude Carrière inspired by Yukio Mishima
Music Makoto Yabuki
Lights Arno Veyrat
Costumes Aurore Thibout
Fabrics colors Aurore Thibout, Ysabel de Maisonneuve
Choreographic collaboration Gabriel Wong
Direction collaboration Samuel Vittoz

Production Maison de la culture d’Amiens – Pôle européen de création et de production, Compagnie Himé
Co-production Festival d’Avignon, Théâtre de la Ville - Paris
With the support of Centquatre-Paris and for the Semaine d'art en Avignon : Fondation BNP Paribas, Spedidam
With the help of Spedidam