photo: LucioPhoto

Work in Progress: Japanese Plays from the Early 20th Century
Theatre Arts Japan


Performed at: The Common Basis Theatre
Reviewed on 5/14/05
by R. Pikser

Since the formerly poor people's venues on Theater Row west of Eighth Avenue have become the in places to go, it is encouraging that the scruffy little rehearsal studios of Eighth Avenue, just north of 42nd Street, have partially converted to black box theatres. One can still go there for very little money to see what newcomers to New York theater are up to. Theatre Arts Japan, in its staging of three short stories, has used its rented space to great effect and with good imagination.

Especially impressive was the adaptation of Kenji Miyazawa's 1923 The Wild Pear . Director Yukako Yamazoe converted the entire space into an undersea realm for the staged reading of this story about a family of crabs, charmingly told by Daniella Chiminelli, who was at once reader and the characters.

Rashomon , adapted from Ryunosuke Akutagawa's 1915 short story, is known to one and all from the Kurosawa film. Some of the actors had a good idea of what they were after, though director Nobuo Inubushi as the outlaw Tajomaru was the clearest in his objectives. The play itself easily carries the audience along because of the story and the structure.

Kunio Kishida's 1925 Paper Balloon was the most difficult project. Director Eriko Ogawa, founder of Theatre Arts Japan, had to deal almost entirely with subtext. A young couple with monetary problems are still seeking how to relate to each other after a year of marriage. Nothing happens, so the play requires highly skilled actors with a very strong internal life. Handsome Motoki Kobayashi was unable to create one for himself; Yuriko Hoshina had moments when her words clearly belied her internal state, but she needed to be even clearer in her objectives and to find more moments of reality for herself.

Theatre Arts Japan is to be highly commended for opening up new worlds to American theatergoers. If they are going to continue in this important work, however, they must resolve the accent problem. Almost without exception the non-American actors were difficult to understand; some more so, some less so, but all needed help. Theatre Arts Japan could work in Japanese with sub- or supertitles. If they choose to continue to work in English, however, they must engage the services of a dialect coach. More ease with the language will also help the actors find their way though the texts. This evening was a good start. It will be interesting to see how the company progresses from here.

Artistic excellence? ***
Entertainment? ***
Inventiveness? ***
Healing power? ***

(Updated on 6/22/05)

Photo: David Altman

Deadly She-Wolf Assassin At Armageddon!



Performed at: the Japan Society
Reviewed on 4/15/05
by Celeste Sunderland

Inspired by the 1970s Japanese manga film series "Lone Wolf and Cub," director Sonoko Kawahara and composer Fred Ho's work-in-progress Deadly She-Wolf Assassin At Armageddon!, performed last April at the Japan Society, is an action-packed, comic book-style stage show. Thrilling samurai sword fights, dramatic dialogue narrated onstage by the fierce Dawn Akemi Saito, and provocative music performed live by Ho's dynamic band combined to create a multifaceted picture that funneled into a plot based on ancient paradigms of loyalty.

The Rogue Assassin (Yoshi Amao) and his son “The Boy” (Mei-chiao Chiu) embark on a quest to avenge the death of the Boy's mother, while the She-Wolf Assassin (Akiko Aizawa) struggles to carry out her own mission, on order from the Shogun (Satoshi Okabe), to murder the Rogue Assassin.

The story was often difficult to follow, perhaps confused by the presence of the onstage narrator who spoke the lines of all characters and, dressed in colorful silks, appeared at first to be a main character herself. But despite the difficulty involved with following the fast-paced bustle of the performance, the script was always fascinating to hear. Ruth Margraff's phrases shimmered with majestic images and ebbed with the erupting emotions that murmur within the hearts of her characters.

In a twist on the original story of “Lone Wolf and Cub,” Margraff provided a female character as the deadly assassin. The She-Wolf often broke into beautiful combative dances, using slinky red scarves or fans as symbols for the tools of death. Fight scenes, choreographed by Tsuyoshi Kaseda, showcased the actors' exceptional agility and acrobatic skills, especially during one scene in which three fantastically-named young male assassins appeared: Bok Mei Lotus (Satoshi Okabe), Col.Ulysses Sam Grant (Takumi Bando), and Qaseem The Killing Machine (Emmanuel Brown). The trio careened onto the stage in a flurry of flipping legs, spinning torsos, and helicopter kicks.

Ho's music often set the direction for the play, warning of danger or the emergence of a new character with changes in speed, volume, and texture. Mixing daredevil jazz with aspects of Asian music, the score took a nostalgic look back at the glamorous, fight- to-the-death heroes from 1970s espionage pop-culture. Once completed, the production could very well be a marvel, but we'll have to wait and see what tricks Ho and Margraff use to pull it all together.

Artistic excellence? ****
Entertainment? ****
Inventiveness? ***
Healing power? ***

(Updated on 6/22/05)