Sakamoto’s novel-turned-play to run the summer at Stratford Festival

By Medicine Hat News on June 18, 2025.

@MedicineHatNews

The play based on the Medicine Hat-set novel “Forgiveness:

A Gift from my Grandparents” will open at the prestigious Stratford Festival in Ontario today for a summer run.

Author Mark Sakamoto garnered acclaim for the 2014 book which describes his family history and the relationship between the maternal and paternal side of his family – one side interned in Japanese-Canadian camps during the Second World War and the other in a Japanese prisoner of war camp.

It sold 70,000 copies, and was adapted for the stage by Hiro Kanagawa.

A main role will be played by Yoshie Bankcroft, as Mitsue Sakamoto, making her Stratford debut, after starring in a touring production of Forgiveness. Jeff Lillico will portray as Ralph McLean.

The play first opened in Vancouver and Calgary in 2023, before moving on to other centres, and will see its grand opening today for the summer season at the Stratford Drama Festival.

It will run until Sept. 27.

The festival that is renowned for its Shakespearian offerings will stage Macbeth and As You Like It this season, along with modern productions of such as Sense and Sensibility, Anne of Green Gables, Dangerous Liaisons and Dirty Rotten Scoundrels.

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