An Evening Remembering Hiroshima and Nagasaki

Drinks reception: 7:20pm – 8:00pm

13/14 Cornwall Terrace, Outer Circle (entrance facing Regent's Park), London NW1 4QP

the Daiwa Anglo-Japanese Foundation Organised by

Fully booked

Newly revised and staged for live performance, The Priest’s Tale by award-winning British actor/playwright Michael Mears is his adaptation of one of the atomic-bomb survivors’ accounts from John Hersey’s remarkable book Hiroshima*.

Father Wilhelm was a German Jesuit priest living in Hiroshima, who survived the blast but witnessed much of the destruction. Told with compassion, warmth and flashes of humour, The Priest’s Tale is a clear-eyed depiction of the pity of war… and of the terror wrought at the start of our nuclear age.

After the 1-hour (approx.) performance, there was an audience Q&A.

(* Published by Penguin. Permission for this non-profit performance has been requested.)

‘An extraordinary piece of theatre. Exceptional performance, incredible script.’

Jo Siedlecka, Independent Catholic News

About the contributor

Michael Mears

Michael Mears was born in London, where he still lives. With over four decades of experience as a professional actor in theatre, film and television, he has worked for all the major UK theatre companies, including the National Theatre, the Royal Shakespeare Company and the Peter Hall Company, performing in London’s West End on numerous occasions. As a playwright Michael is best known as a creator of original solo plays. This Evil Thing, depicting the struggle of Britain’s WWI conscientious objectors, was performed by him over 100 times in the UK and in 2018 in nine U.S. states. He has also written seven solo plays for BBC Radio 4. In 2022 Michael wrote his first play for two actors, one British, one Japanese, called The Mistake, which is also about Hiroshima, with sold-out runs at London’s Arcola Theatre in 2023, followed by a 28-date UK tour. Earlier this year the play had a six-week tour in the USA including three weeks playing off-Broadway, New York. The Mistake tours Japan in September and is being supported by the Daiwa Foundation.