Nelson thespian Hiromoto Ida was a professionally trained Japanese actor, living and working in downtown Tokyo, when he started to feel dissatisfied with the city. Sitting in smoky bars after long rehearsals, he found himself day-dreaming about a different type of life.
“I always like mountains, even when I’m acting. I had dilemma because theatre culture is in town, Tokyo, but my mind goes off by myself in the mountains,” said the 53-year-old dancer.
Eventually he decided to move to Canada to become a mountain guide, and he’s never returned. This ambitious life detour is the subject of his latest work.
“I was wondering recently, if I didn’t come to Canada and just stayed in Tokyo, got some job and became a businessman, then probably I’d be standing on a platform with all the people everywhere. I’d be standing there looking at the train tracks thinking ’25 years ago, what if I left and went to Canada? What would my life be like now?’” said Ida.
That thought led Ida to create a 15-minute outdoor theatre piece featuring a Japanese businessman that was performed in Castlegar. Eventually he decided he wanted to explore the character further, and now he makes an appearance in Ida’s contemporary dance piece Detour, which is showing at the Capitol Theatre on January 24.
Ida said the performance is a deeply personal piece, inspired by his immigration experiences.
“I feel like I was losing something, where I come from, which is good because it doesn’t feel like I’m belonging anywhere. No attachments,” he said.
Ida eventually created a Canadian character as well, an incompetent lumberjack who can’t properly operate a chainsaw.
“My chainsaw never works. It never starts, I even bought a new one and I start it, chop 4, 5 trees, and then I come back and that’s it,” he said.
The experience inspired him.
“I felt so bad. You know that feeling. I’m feeling so bad, I’m tired and sitting in the forest by myself and I don’t want to show anybody. Maybe it’s just me, because I’m Japanese I cannot start. But this is middle-aged thing. Not just sexual, but everything. Before you have energy, your whole life is in front of you, but now you are with tree but your chainsaw doesn’t start and you are very tired of it."
Ida saw a connection between these two characters.
“I love these two different images, to connect them, make a story. Japanese guy on busy platform and Canadian guy sitting all by himself with a chainsaw that doesn’t work. Somehow those two must connect somewhere. I feel so excited! How can they connect?”
Audiences will have to watch the show to find out.
Ida originally started working on Detour two years ago, and he’s performed it once before. He was disappointed by the original turn-out, but Capitol Theatre executive director Stephanie Fischer took him under her wing and encouraged him to remount the piece.
“I worked so hard for over one year, and to only have a handful of people come out was so painful,” he said, noting that his piece may seem unfamiliar to local audiences. He's thrilled he's getting the opportunity to share it with the Nelson community again.
“This comes right from my soul,” he said.
Tickets are $20 for adults and $16 for students, and are available from capitoltheatre.bc.ca or 250-352-6363.