Uchinanchu clown and teacher Kento Morita brings his comedy show, Japanese Grandma Funeral, to the Edinburgh Fringe this summer.
“Kento the clown missed his grandmother’s funeral in Japan due to Covid restrictions. He’s trying to recreate the traditional rites, but it keeps going wrong. Can the audience help him achieve closure in this gentle, heartwarming comedy? Blending clown and storytelling with Japanese and Okinawan funeral customs, Kento attempts to process 108 of his grandma’s memories, along with unresolved thoughts and small, stubborn facts about her life, in a show that is both deeply personal yet widely relatable. What begins as a failed ceremony becomes a gentle, intimate invitation to laugh, remember, and let go.”
Where: Playground 1 at ZOO Playground
When: 7-30 Aug
Ticket link: https://www.edfringe.com/tickets/whats-on/japanese-grandma-funeral
What is the show about, and where did the idea come from?
A few years ago, I missed my Japanese grandmother’s funeral due to COVID-19 travel restrictions. This was the same grandmother who, as a contestant on a Japanese game show in the 80’s, won a plane ticket to the United States. My father used that ticket to come to the United States; my mother won the Green Card lottery a few months later, which is why I’m American. Meditating on these facts as a clown, my impulse was to stage a Japanese game show where the goal is helping my grandmother reach the afterlife.
Sell the show to a potential audience in one sentence!
This is a Japanese game show about grief that will make you laugh and cry!
What does the Fringe mean to you, and do you have any particular memories?
The Fringe is a kaleidoscopic celebration of creativity, community, and human life! Last year I saw a show called Space Hippo at Underbelly. It was the first time I really saw shadow puppetry, and my mind was blown by the form’s possibilities, the story’s beauty, and the craft’s eloquence. There’s a moment when the hippo ascends into space, helped by a rainbow wash of color, which is absolutely sublime.
And then, I saw another show, Kris Killed Pop by Kristin McGuire. At the end of this moving, one-woman musical show, it featured a giant hippo too. Both shows, developed thousands of miles apart, focused on parenthood, generational storytelling, and somehow, hippos. These connections happen all the time at the Fringe, revealing how we are all connected through some artistic ether, tapped into the same zeitgeist, and it’s a privilege to be a part of it!
What are you looking forward to in Edinburgh?
I’m looking forward to bringing my first show to Edinburgh. While I created and produced shows in New York for years, since last year’s Fringe, I’ve been lucky enough to find performance opportunities across the US, Europe, and Australia. Every time I perform in a different country, I feel my material becoming more universal, yet more specific to me.
I can’t wait for people from across the world to see my show and for my artistic sensibilities to be affected as they were last year when I was an audience member. And if I can, do my small part to affect or inspire someone else at the Fringe this year, I’d love nothing more. The Fringe is a huge conversation for me, and I can’t wait to listen and share my thoughts.