• 禁断の裸体 (All Nudity Shall Be Punished)

4/18/15 (Sat), Tokyo

I knew nothing at all about this play, but the poster art was eye-catching, to say the least, and a bit of research indicated that it was a famous (or infamous) show by one of Brazil’s best known playwrights, Nelson Rodrigues. It also starred the great Shinobu Terajima, who was so memorable in the film Caterpillar, and Seiyo Uchino, a well known stage actor. Tickets were hard to come by, which made me all the more curious to see it. I wasn’t able to find much information on the show, so I had no idea what I was getting myself into.  

A man is listening to a tape of a woman following her suicide, which had been induced by her fixation over the breast cancer that runs in her family. Then the story moves into flashback: the man is depressed after the loss of his wife, the only woman with whom he was ever intimate. His ne’er-do-well younger brother decides to help by enlisting the cooperation of his regular prostitute, figuring logically enough that nothing would buoy the guy’s spirits more than a bit of female aid. The man flatly refuses, but before he knows it awakens naked in her room anyway after a drunken spree.

Initially resistant, he eventually becomes obsessed by her. His spinster aunts are scandalized and insist he stay loyal to their sister’s memory, but he is lost. He goes for help to his priest, a doctor and even the police, but no one is willing or able to do anything for him, and he continues to pursue the woman. This enrages his son, who is himself obsessed with the memory of the mother and feels the father is blemishing her name. The man’s younger brother, who has never forgiven him for failing to bail him out of a failed business deal, convinces the son himself to sleep with the prostitute. Things do not work out well.

The story was way out there, with plenty of sex, nudity, violence and emotions running at a constantly high pitch. This was balanced by considerable humor as well. The play critiques the petty morality of Brazilian society for valuing form over the emotional needs of its people: the aunts and son want to keep the grieving father a lonely widower forever, while figures representing religion, medicine and security show little interest in helping. Obsession is also a theme here: the husband, the prostitute, the son and the brother all have their manias, which certainly fits the Brazilian image. Some oddities in the script seemed to aim just for shock value: the son, traumatized after a male rape, leaves with his Bolivian rapist for no clear reason; the prostitute twists and turns in her loyalties; and there was lots of hysterical screaming with little down time. But it was never less than watchable.

The staging was highly inventive. The set was a two-level structure with a pair of stairs that could be moved aside to slide in smaller sets. The lighting was almost a character of its own here with great mood moments and some striking imagery (crucifix all in light with the writhing shadow of a man, the rain on the lovers, the flowery pattern outdoors, the superb final image of the floating tape recorder). I could have done without some of the more overtly aggressive sequences, like the shadow of the guy-on-goat sex, but those were fortunately rare. The director made effective use of the various levels and stairs, making for smooth and rapid transitions in a notably fluid production. For instance, the widower would go to the priest, then after a brief blackout, move a few steps down to see the doctor, then another blackout followed by a meeting with the police in a slightly different position. Well done. As per the title, there was heaps of nudity as well as simulated sex, but this was never gratuitous given the story. Genitalia were kept strategically covered, which I thought was actually more provocative than letting it all hang out.

Terajima is a fearless actress and showed a great range in all her various moods here (and of course got naked as usual for her). Seiyo as the anguished widower and Hiroyuki Ikeuchi as his reckless brother gave fully realized depictions of their characters as well. Shuhei Nomura was a bit more one-note in his angry portrayal, but his passion seemed real enough. Other actors all gave more typical overheated performances. The middle aunt was especially irritating in her manufactured hysterics, though she did get laughs.

All in all, a fascinating production of a stimulating show. Will catch this again if I get the chance. Very curious to see the Brazilian film.