Art Tower Mito will release an audio drama based on animation film director Hayao Miyazaki's manga "Saihin Zensen" (The front line of poverty) for free from June 26 through July 26.
The seven-episode drama made with dialogue and sound effects will be available on a special page of the Mito-based museum's website.
Using actors and actresses who had lost chances to perform on stage, in particular, "Saihin Zensen" depicts how fishermen, who were conscripted along with their fishing boat and made to watch the sea at the end of World War II, confront their enemies together with soldiers.
The script was written by Katsura Inoue, 55, the artistic director of the stage department at the Art Tower Mito, in April after the government declared a state of emergency. Inoue did so in the hope of creating a drama that can be enjoyed at home. He wrote the script with an apprentice fisherman as the main character.
Miyazaki is said to have readily agreed on the idea to tell a story with sound and voice. Wearing face shields, 20 actors and actresses narrated the story at a training room in Tokyo at the beginning of this month.
Inoue said he made the drama as a "fight song" for people who have been restricted in many aspects of daily life. Inoue said he found the plot of the original story, in which people were drawn into war all of sudden, is somewhat similar to the current situation caused by the unexpected outbreak of the new coronavirus.
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