HIRO

The Man Who Sailed His House

HIRO tells the incredible but true story of Hiromitsu Shinkawa, who survived the Japanese tsunami of 2011 by riding the sea on the roof of his house.

‘At two forty-six, something rumbles from deep in the earth, a sickening sort of grinding, and then everything lurches wildly, whips back, lurches more wildly still…. your first move is to flee the shed, to dive twenty feet free onto open ground and clutch it, as if riding the back of a whale. Time elongates. Three minutes becomes a lifetime.’

This story of a man who loses almost everything is the jumping-off point for an exquisite reflection on the trembling of the human condition, what is truly important to us, and what it means to survive.

Based on the story The Man Who Sailed His House by Michael Paterniti

Creator & Director Samantha Chester
Co-creator & Performer Humphrey Bower
Collaborator & Co-performer Kylie Maree
Collaborator Tim Green
Composer Ekrem Eli Phoenix
Set Designer Rhys Morris
Lighting Designer Phoebe Pilcher
Publicist Alison Welburn

Image Stephen Heath