Kamishibai! In South Australia.

On a recent trip to Adelaide, top of my list was to visit the Asia Fest in Rymill Park. This is a 'food and cultural festival' celebrating some of Adelaide's best resaurants alongside stalls and all kinds of entertainment.

My purpose for going was (of course) to track down the storytelling, or to be specific, the Japanese Kamishibai. After a few quick emails from Munetaka and Gail Umehara, and with times and dates locked in the diary, the universe worked in my favour. I was able to catch some performances.

Mr Umehara's set up is well suited to out door events with large cards and sturdy rig.

Bilingual actor and storyteller, Jarrod Hoare, told the story and Mr Umehara played the flute. A bunch of kids in a school holiday program, crowded around creating a scene like in the old photos of Kamishibai performances. The ones I love so much on the internet.

It was very hot and the the stage, thankfully, enjoyed some shade. Other performance areas at the festival were not so fortunate. Although the team were busy, we did manage a group photo.

You can see some footage of Jarrod performing at the Festival HERE.
I'm hopelessly addicted to this kind of visual storytelling and catching up with Munetaka, Gail and Jarrod was a delight. How many more kamishibai storytellers are  scattered around Australia - I wonder ...