I was every bit as carried away by The Seven Streams of the River Ota as Arifa Akbar (Review, 16 March). And like Akbar, I was impressed by the “singing” of Rebecca Blankenship. So much so, that I remarked to the theatre director, next to whom I happened to be sitting, that “she really sung that aria”. He shook his head and said it was particularly well mimed. A glance at the credits revealed that it was sung by the (late) Dorothy Kirsten, in a nice detail of period authenticity.
It can be argued that we did see the disfigured face of “a Japanese woman”. The fabula that is eventually revealed makes clear that hers is the eternally recognisable face from the oft-published photographs of Hiroshima victims, which was shown to us on stage.
Roger Macy
London