RIVER ISLAND

ABOUT

RIVER ISLAND / 川島 is a newly devised operatic piece that draws inspiration from the enigmatic life of Kawashima Yoshiko 川島 芳子, a Manchu royal and military leader whose cultural and gender fluidity led to their execution by the Chinese at the end of the Second World War.

At the helm of this devised collaboration are Teiya Kasahara 笠原貞野, the co-founder of Amplified Opera, and Debi Wong, the founder and artistic director of re:Naissance Opera. Both artists engage with creating new works that break the traditional constraints of opera, empowering diverse artists to authentically share their artistry and experiences. Through the intersectional lens of Yoshiko’s lived experience, this operatic piece will examine themes of gender, queerness, culture, and the erasure of those identities through Western colonialism in Asia. With the support of the Research and Creation grant,  this team will undergo a workshop period that builds the foundation for collaborative artistic relationships, and develops the narrative world of RIVER ISLAND. 

Born a Manchurian princess, yet raised in Japan by an adopted father, and endowed with the destiny of liberating Manchuria, Yoshiko was a person whose infamy brought them many names, many roles, and many legends. They expressed both cultural and gender fluidity throughout their life, identifying as both Chinese and Japanese, man and woman. They used their multifaceted identity to their advantage in their military and spy career during WWII, and won many titles such as “Joan of Arc in the Orient,” and “Mata Hari of the East.” They often performed their life for the media, so the accounts of their life-story blur between fact and fiction. The intersectionality and mythology of Yoshiko’s life offer various portraits of this individual: the Manchu Princess, the Japanese Spy, the Military Leader, the Chinese Traitor. These portraits offer avenues to creation, as the various ghosts of “Yoshiko” lend themselves to a cast of characters to explore.

Set in Shanghai against the violence of war and revolution, the various ghosts of Yoshiko inhabit the ruins of the historic Majestic Hotel. A city fractured by imperialist powers, Shanghai exhibited the impact of Western colonialism in its multicultural identity and social instability. The dance halls, a favourite of Yoshiko’s, were an escape from the turmoil of wartime, encouraging greater parity among classes, ethnicities, and nationalities of those who lived in Shanghai. This venue for newly evolving music and dance styles brought about unique music genres such as Shidaiqu, a type of Chinese folk and American jazz fusion music that originated in Shanghai in the 1920s. Using the containers of music and dance that were prevalent in this era, the many ghosts of Yoshiko are able to express themselves and resonate with our mixed Asian and queer/trans cultures today.

 

CREATIVE TEAM

  • Teiya Kasahara 笠原貞野 and Debi Wong, co-creators, directors and performers

  • Stephanie Wong, assistant director

 

History of Development

2021

  • Creation and Development hosted by Indie Opera Fest (re:Naissance Opera) with various guest artistic consultants

 

RIVER ISLAND is generously supported by the Canada Council for the Arts.