Curator Shiman Kamame and the Da Vinci Notebook Stage Play Blu-ray

A museum need not be quiet, solemn or difficult to understand. In Curator Shiman Kamame and the Da Vinci Notebook, the people running it are every bit as lively as the stories surrounding its exhibits. Into this noisy workplace comes Shiman Kamame, a new curator whose research centres on Leonardo da Vinci. He also carries a secret, setting an already distinctive group of colleagues on the path to an unusual museum comedy.

Kentaro Kobayashi wrote and directed this original stage production, with Hiroki Suzuki leading the cast. Their collaboration brings a playwright known for work across theatre, film and books together with an actor whose stage career spans major musicals and ensemble productions. Teru Ikuta, Takanori Chujo, Natsuki Saegusa, Yu Furuyashiki and Yuriko Maeda join Koji Tsujimoto and Eiji Sugawara in bringing the museum's staff to life.

The two-disc Blu-ray release pairs the complete 102-minute performance with a separate making-of programme lasting 125 minutes. That substantial behind-the-scenes material offers another way into the production after the curtain falls, while keeping the performance and documentary footage on their own discs. The stage play is presented in 1080p high definition with original Japanese Linear PCM 2.0 stereo audio. This region-free Japanese edition has no subtitles. Released by HIKE and distributed by TC Entertainment, it is the Blu-ray edition of the stage production rather than a film adaptation.