“My fest favourite… SADAKO …the play uses puppetry, beautiful design and history to deliver a visually engaging and human story that goes straight for the heart.”
Kgomotso Moncho, The Star & Cape Argus Tonight

Sadako is a visual theatre production that combines video projection, puppets and live actors to tell the story of Sadako Sasaki and the legend of one thousand paper cranes. Moving beyond words, Sadako plays with notions of innocence and childhood to discover a new lens for understanding our own culture by experiencing universal themes expressed in another cultural context.

Sadako was two years old on the 6 August 1945 when the atom bomb was dropped on her hometown, the port city of Hiroshima. She survived one of modern history’s most devastating events only to die ten years later from what then was known colloquially as “the atom bomb disease”, leukaemia. During her illness she began folding origami paper cranes, evoking the Japanese legend that states if you fold one thousand cranes, you will be granted a wish. After her death, Sadako was remembered by her class mates, her life celebrated, her letters published and her story told. A statue of Sadako stands in the Hiroshima Peace Park. At the base of the statue are inscribed the words that are resonated in the play: “This is our cry, this is our prayer: Peace in the World.” Moving beyond words, Sadako plays with notions of innocence and childhood. Through an unfamiliar story, we discover a new lens for understanding our own culture by experiencing universal themes expressed in another cultural context.

…with a clarity of vision and intent that is rare, Sadako is an exquisitely moving true fable…Like a delicate cherry blossom that fleetingly elevates your spirits as it wafts to the ground, Sadako is a gently poetic story that is a breath of fresh air in complicated times. It proves that adults can still be transfixed by a solid, powerful yarn that appeals to our inner child” Christine Kennedy, CUE

Hearts & Eyes Theatre Collective are grateful to Vivi Cohen for the generous funding support.