Author Archives: Sekenbanashi

The Homecoming

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The Homecoming

5 December 2015 (Sat), London Trafalgar Studios

A little Pinter goes long way with me, but this was the one play that my friend and I could agree on; I felt I should see it at some point anyway. As with most Pinter plays, it’s too stylized and obscure to make much sense, though the characterizations on their own were interesting. A brother, who has gone off to the US, brings his wife home for the first time after years of marriage and introduces her to his misogynistic widower dad, his hopeless two brothers and his chauffeur uncle. Thrown in the middle of a bullying, macho, frat-type environment, the wife uses her sexual wiles to manipulate all and gain control. Continue reading →

Farinelli and the King

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Farinelli and the King

5 December 2015 (Sat), West End

This was one tough ticket. I had tried for seats several times from Tokyo, but had only managed to get a standing-room seat for the evening show (and even those were eventually sold out). I went to the box office in the morning to see if I could find something better, and ended up snagging not just a seat but a house seat for the matinee – this was apparently the final day of performances, so the producers must have been holding back a number of tickets just in case. Great luck. And I even managed to sell my standing-room ticket to an extremely grateful guy. So all’s well that ends well. Continue reading →

Tonya Pinkins: I’m every black woman

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Hilarious: It seems that the actress Tonya Pinkins dropped out of a New York production of the classic Mother Courage because, as she puts it, her “perspective as a Black woman was dismissed in favor of portraying the Black woman, through the filter of the White gaze”. The production, which has a white director, had been reset to the Congo in contemporary times. I don’t know much about the production, or about the Congo for that matter. But from an Asian perspective, I find it funny that Pinkins thinks that because she’s female and black, she has special insight into the feelings of a Congolese woman trapped in a brutal war. Is there some Black gene that makes all black women worldwide think and feel the same way? I wonder if the fictional woman would even think of herself as “black” given that virtually the entire population of her country is the same; surely she would find her identity elsewhere. Continue reading →

Company

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Archives: Company

17 November 2006 (Fri), Broadway

A revival (still in previews) of the Sondheim classic directed by John Doyle, the English director known for his minimalist approach in which the cast members play all the instruments. I didn’t want to miss this show, one of my all-time favorites, so I ordered the tickets from Tokyo rather than waiting for the half-price booth. I wasn’t taking any chances. I went with a friend who was seeing the show for the first time.

The previous year’s Sweeney Todd, which used the same actor/musician technique, was a revelation. While it hardly replaced the traditional version, it certainly provided a fresh perspective on the show. (Whether it would be enjoyable without having seen the original is an open question.) Company, being an abstract series of loosely related sequences rather than a proper narrative, seemed like an even more appropriate choice for this technique. The various couples interact with other couples in song but not in narrative scenes other than the birthday party that frames the show; that is, outside their specific vignettes, the characters are for the most part commenting on the action rather than participating in it directly. I figured that the use of instruments would work perfectly within this context, providing another means of commenting on the story.

The results were not what I had expected. Continue reading →

The Lieutenant of Inishmore (English/Japanese)

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Archives: The Lieutenant of Inishmore

29 April 2006 (Sat), Broadway

Wild black comedy by Irish dramatist Martin McDonaugh, author of the memorable Beauty Queen of Leenane and The Pillowman. This show considerably ups the gruesome quotient with the most blood I’ve ever seen spilled on stage. An Irish terrorist discovers that his beloved cat has been run over, and utter mayhem breaks loose as he seeks his revenge. Continue reading →

Takarazuka: Rose of Versailles（宝塚「ベルサイユの薔薇」）

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Takarazuka: Rose of Versailles「ベルサイユの薔薇」

19 March 2006 (Sun), Tokyo

A revival of the quintessential production by the all-female Takarazuka troupe based on a famous Japanese manga involving two star-crossed couples in revolutionary France. Continue reading →

Fiddler on the Roof (屋根の上のヴァイオリン弾き)

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Archives:「屋根の上のヴァイオリン弾き」(Fiddler on the Roof)

27 February 2006 (Mon), Tokyo

Much-revived Japanese-language version of the Broadway hit. Ichimura Masachika takes over as the fourth Tevye, a role still associated with the definitive Morishige Hisaya (who I saw 20 years ago). I remember Morishige as a gruff, commanding presence who pretty much molded the part to his own personality, not so much acting Tevye as simply playing himself. It worked perfectly in the Japanese context, which is more like a family drama than a broader tale of how to preserve tradition in a changing world. Continue reading →

Persona Non Grata: The Chiune Sugihara Story

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Persona Non Grata: The Chiune Sugihara Story  (杉原千畝)

20 November 2015 (Fri), Tokyo cinema

I coincidentally happened to be reading about Sugihara, the Japanese diplomat in Lithuania who saved thousands of Jewish refugees during the war, so the film caught my eye. Sugihara’s story has been dramatized before, but this was a major Toho release that is obviously being aimed at foreign markets; for one thing, it’s directed by an American, albeit a half-Japanese guy born in Japan, and a good part of it is in English. The clips I’ve seen of previous stagings (Japanese TV drama, Australian play) were long on the melodrama, which the story lends itself to in lesser hands. That made me wary of another version. But a friend was so effusive in her praise that it raised my hopes. Continue reading →

Gion Bayashi (祇園囃子)

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Gion Bayashi (祇園囃子)

14 November 2015 (Sat), DVD

A Mizoguchi film about the plight of women after the war, as usual, but painted on an intimate canvas. A girl who has been subject to the loss of her mother, abandonment by her father and abuse by her uncle goes in desperation to the mother’s old geisha house and begs to be trained as a maiko, her only hope for survival. The geisha, whose lack of a patron makes her financially unstable, hesitates to take on the high cost of a trainee, but eventually gives in, borrowing the necessary money from a powerful madam in Gion. After a long apprenticeship, the girl makes her appearance as a maiko, but her ideals quickly meet reality when she discovers what the men are really after. Her refusal to give in – she nearly bites an important client’s tongue off – forces her mistress, bound financially to the madam, into a difficult decision. Continue reading →

Othello (NT Live)

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Othello (National Theatre Live)

19 October 2015 (Mon), Tokyo cinema

I loved Adrian Lester a few years back in Red Velvet as a 19th-century actor playing Othello, so I wasn’t going to miss him in the real thing. With direction by Nicholas Hytner and the added attraction of Rory Kinnear as Iago, my expectations were high.  Continue reading →

Victim

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Victim

11 October 2015, YouTube

An amazing British film from 1961 about a secretly gay magistrate who pursues a gay blackmail case at the his risk of his own outing. And that’s back when homosexuality was a criminal offense in the UK. I imagine this was pretty controversial in its day, especially as it questions a widely held view and basically advocates that the law be rescinded. But aside from the politics, the story is a taut thriller that works very well on its own terms. Continue reading →