TETSURO SHIGEMATSU

When it came time to connect with his ailing emotionally distant father, Tetsuro Shigematsu realized there was one object that could help breach the divide: a microphone. Both Tetsuro and his father, Akira, had been broadcasters with the CBC, and so they sat down for two years’ worth of interviews, which became the basis of Empire of the Son, Tetsuro’s one-man show about his relationship with his father, presented by Alberta Theatre Projects at the High Performance Rodeo. Tetsuro sat down with Swerve Going Out editor Jon Roe to talk about bringing his father’s story to the stage.

Do you still start the show by saying you haven’t cried since you were a kid?

My proposal for the audience is that I’m going to revisit some emotionally fraught territory and, maybe, if I can begin to feel something, then I can begin to defrost the ice that’s around my heart, having grown up with a father who never cried and never showed any emotion.

You explored your relationship with your father in an earlier one-man show, Rising Son, which your father didn’t react very well to. How did that change your approach to Empire of the Son?

One day (when I was doing Rising Son), my mother said to me, “Oh, by the way, when people ask about you, dad says you make fun of his accent for a living.” I was so struck by that, I didn’t know how to take it. I asked her, “is that dad being sardonic because he has this dark sense of humour or does he really mind?” She was so classically Japanese in her response, she said, “I’m not sure.” Translation, of course, being, “You need to stop.” And I did stop, for about 25 years.... When I was in graduate school—I still am—I thought about revisiting that material when my father’s health began to falter. Sometimes playwrights will ask me what it’s like to create theatre within the context of doing a PhD, and the thing I always point out to them is the value that is put upon honouring permission. Gaining ethical permission is of paramount importance, you can’t do it otherwise. For me, because my field of education is covered by the precepts of sociology, technically my father was a human research subject. There’s all these sorts of ethical concerns that come into play. It was imperative that I secured his permission.

You’ve performed this across the country since your father’s death two weeks prior to the show’s premiere in 2015. Has it provided you with some sense of closure?

Sometimes when I’m standing backstage and I’m listening to the front of house speech, I feel this sense of apprehension. Not because I’m going out on stage by myself, but because maybe once I’m on stage, I won’t be. I’m not a religious person. I don’t think I’ll ever see my father again, but as an artist using my imagination sometimes I feel his spirit more powerfully and more closely than what is comfortable for me.

This interview has been edited for clarity and condensed for length. Read the full interview online at swervecalgary.com.

Empire of the Son: Until Sunday, Jan. 28 at Martha Cohen Theatre, Arts Commons. $26 - $75. hprodeo.ca.