Baaba’s Footsteps

Tokyo 2020: Yu, 39, career-driven but recently dumped by her long term job, keeps beating her head against societal pressures to get married. Sick of the patriarchy and feeling powerless, she struggles to fit in her own country. Can the answer to her self-doubt lie in following her great-grandmother Takako’s footsteps and travelling to San Francisco? Armed with an airplane ticket and Takako’s diary, Yu sets out to find herself.

San Francisco 1920: Takako, 16, stares at the numerous men waiting on the dock. Armed with only a photo and a marriage certificate, she tries to recognise her new husband who she has never met, in a land she has never been. Takako, one of the many Japanese Picture Brides of the early 20th century, bravely sets out to create a home for herself in America. Lonely in a land that both welcomes and resents her, she finds solace in keeping a diary where she writes about her struggle. Can her diary help light the way for a great-granddaughter who she will never meet?

Yu and Takako’s stories intertwine as two generations of women struggle to find their way in societies that do not accept them.

BAABA’S FOOTSTEPS premiered at the VAULT Festival 2020 and was proudly supported by the Arts Council England.

The Play’s the Thing: “Baaba’s Footsteps … is a bold and often brilliant interrogation of the cycle of expectation and disappointment that is perpetuated by our insistence on engaging with false ideas of people.”

Cast and Creatives

Yu – Eyre Kurasawa
Takako / Fortune Teller – Tomoko Komura
Tommy + 6 characters – Johnny Ong
Mum, Ume, Natsu, Police – Tammie Rhee

Director – Ragga Dahl Johansen
Writer and Producer – Susan Hingley
Co-Producer – Filip Krenus
Sound Design – Guy Connelly
Set and Costume Design – Hannah Kuchar
Lighting Design – Nao Nagai
Stage Management – Natalie Wong
Poster Design – Davor Pukljak
Photography – Ikin Yum

Social Media

Instagram: @BaabasFootsteps

Twitter: @BaabasFootsteps