From biblical times until the middle of the last century, leprosy was considered one of the most disastrous diseases afflicting humanity. Countless sufferers endured internal exile in lepers' colonies and some were forcibly sterilized.
Leprosy, also known as Hansen's disease after the scientist who in 1878 identified the bacteria that causes the affliction, is curable and not highly contagious. However, discrimination persists into the 21st century.
Taiwanese sufferers of leprosy are currently locked in battle on two fronts.
Construction plans for the Taipei Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) include the demolition of Taiwan's only leprosarium, the 70-year-old Happy Life Lo Sheng Sanatorium (
In the wake of patient protests and petitions, the government is now considering alternative plans.
On a second front, local sufferers of Hansen's disease who were subjected to systematic abuse under Japan's colonial rule over the island have taken their battle for compensation to the courts and won a victory last month when a Japanese judge ruled they were entitled to redress.
Inspired by these struggles, Japanese writer and director Sakurai Daizo penned the play
A harrowing tale of life on the margins of society it is not. At a rehearsal on Tuesday evening, it was evident that
"At a time when nostalgia for Japan's colonial past is on the rise among many Japanese, I wanted to look at the relationship between Taiwan and it's former colonial master," said the playwright who has worked extensively throughout Southeast Asia. "One of the lead characters Oguzi, is both a ghost and a living person who represents how Japan treats Taiwan both economically and politically, today and throughout history."
The ghost Oguzi, a character taken from Japanese folklore, presides over a leprosarium in which the story unfolds. Although no specific reference is made to Happy Life Leprosy Hospital the inference is glaring.
The play dispenses with a linear chronology, frequently switching from the past to the present and back.
After Japan triumphed in the 1905 war with Russia it embarked on a period of imperial expansion. Daizo said his work uses the relationship between nationalism and leprosy at this time to lead the audience to the crux of the play.
"How can we live life in a post-colonial, capitalist society?" Daizo asks.
The group of 12 actors, three of whom are Japanese, came together for this project, but are not part of a formal troupe. Originally scripted as a 2.5-hour play,
The group has invited patients from Happy Life Leprosy Hospital to attend the shows.
Performance notes:
Where: Experimental Theater of the National Theater Hall (
When: Tomorrow at 7:30pm and Sunday at 3pm.
Admission Tickets are NT$400 available through Artsticket. Call (02) 3393 9888 or visit www.artsticket.com.tw/ for more information.
A “meta” detective series in which a struggling Asian waiter becomes the unlikely hero of a police procedural-style criminal conspiracy, Interior Chinatown satirizes Hollywood’s stereotypical treatment of minorities — while also nodding to the progress the industry has belatedly made. The new show, out on Disney-owned Hulu next Tuesday, is based on the critically adored novel by US author Charles Yu (游朝凱), who is of Taiwanese descent. Yu’s 2020 bestseller delivered a humorous takedown of racism in US society through the adventures of Willis Wu, a Hollywood extra reduced to playing roles like “Background Oriental Male” but who dreams of one day
Gabriel Gatehouse only got back from Florida a few minutes ago. His wheeled suitcase is still in the hallway of his London home. He was out there covering the US election for Channel 4 News and has had very little sleep, he says, but you’d never guess it from his twinkle-eyed sprightliness. His original plan was to try to get into Donald Trump’s election party at Mar-a-Lago, he tells me as he makes us each an espresso, but his contact told him to forget it; it was full, “and you don’t blag your way in when the guy’s survived two
The entire saga involving the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) and its Chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) continues to produce plot twists at such a rapid pace that fiction publishers would throw it out for being ridiculously improbable. This past week was particularly bizarre, but surprisingly the press has almost entirely ignored a big story that could have serious national security implications and instead focused on a series of salacious bombshell allegations. Ko is currently being held incommunicado by prosecutors while several criminal investigations are ongoing on allegations of bribery and stealing campaign funds. This last week for reasons unknown Ko completely shaved
The self-destructive protest vote in January that put the pro-People’s Republic of China (PRC) side in control of the legislature continues to be a gift that just keeps on giving to the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT). Last week legislation was introduced by KMT Legislator Weng Hsiao-lin (翁曉玲) that would amend Article 9-3 of the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例) to permit retired and serving (!) military personnel to participate in “united front” (統戰) activities. Since the purpose of those activities is to promote annexation of Taiwan to the PRC, legislators
RSS