Hanamichi Productions
About
Hanamichi Productions was founded in 2024 by actor and dancer, Suleiman Suleiman. We are a performing arts company producing highly stylised, cross-disciplinary dance-theatre inspired by the Japanese art of Kabuki. Suleiman's specialist interest in Japanese theatre sprung from his drama studies at Goldsmiths and Mozarteum University Salzburg. He describes his first live experience of Kabuki in Tokyo as, "an epiphany moment. I think the discipline of movement and musicality are fascinating aspects of Kabuki. It is a unique artform in that it combines the sacred, sensual and sublime."
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In 2019, Suleiman staged his first 'Kabukimono' at the Grade II listed Ladbroke Hall in London, alongside Tsugaru shamisen musician, Hibiki Ichikawa. This event featured the premiere of Suleiman's one-man play, The Pearl Diver, tracing the radical and subversive 400-year history of Kabuki from the 21st century to its origins in Kyoto in 1603.
Kabukimono II: Kabuki on the Flower Path, was staged at The Royal Over-Seas League in St James's, London in 2021. This semi-autobiographical performance took the audience on a journey through four seasons and four cities - Paris, London, Tokyo and Kyoto - in search for a more refined understanding and appreciation of Kabuki. Along the way Suleiman encounters David Bowie, Kabuki actor Bandō Tamasaburō V, Kansai Yamamoto, Yukio Mishima, legendary bartender, Hidetsugu Ueno and Lindsay Kemp, each time gaining new insights into how Kabuki's exquisite beauty touched their souls and lives on in their art.
The nineteenth-century Japanese master painter, Kawanabe Kyōsai, was the focus of Kabukimono III: The Picture Book, which took place in March 2022 at The Royal Over-Seas League. The Picture Book explores Kyōsai's career as an independent artist, his devout love for sake and the significance of shogakai or 'art gatherings' as a dynamic space for collaborating with artists, developing new work and cultivating connections with patrons and art dealers.
Special thanks to our artists:
The Romantic View, English Garden Lounging, Nocturna Photography, House of the Young Romantics, Speciale, Kensuke Yazu, Ed Choo, Maria Leontine, Vigi Sawdon, Suleiman Suleiman.