- Handbagged, 10/28/13 (Mon), Tricycle
- Roots, 10/29/13 (Tues), Donmar
- Ghosts, 10/30/13 (Wed), Almeida
- The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui, 10/31/13 (Thur), West End
Category Archives: Play
The Drowned Man
The Drowned Man: A Hollywood Fable
10/27/13 (Sun), London
It’s hard to know what to call The Drowned Man: A Hollywood Fable, another National production from a group called Punchdrunk. It was described to me as interactive theater, but neither of those words seems quite right. Continue reading
Liolà
Liolà
10/27/13 (Sun), London, National Theatre
Liolà, a rather obscure Pirandello play, seemed an odd choice for the National Theatre. But if nothing else, it was being directed by Richard Eyre, soon to retire as the National’s artistic director after a spectacularly successful term. That seemed good enough reason to catch it. Continue reading
Takarazuka Boys (宝塚 BOYS)
宝塚 BOYS (Takarazuka Boys)
8/7/13 (Wed), Tokyo
A dramatization of Hankyu Corporation’s efforts to create a male counterpart to its all-girl Takarazuka troupe after the war. Given the experiment’s failure and the setting amid the ashes of a defeated Japan, I assumed the play would be a standard weepie. But a friend invited me, and I figured it may at least have some camp value.
It was pretty much as feared. Continue reading
Greasepaint (化粧)
化粧 2幕
5/26/09 (Tue), Tokyo
This is a frequently revived one-woman show by the prolific Inoue Hisashi that’s been around since the early 1980s starring Watanabe Misako. Besides Japan, it’s been performed by Watanabe in Paris, London and the U.S. in Japanese, and there was a brief English-language production in London with Frances de la Tour under the name Greasepaint (much more evocative than the usual English title Makeup). The show was sold out throughout the entire run, but I was fortunate to get a same-day seat.
Continue reading
887
887, 6/25/16 (Sat), Tokyo
A one-man show by Robert Lepage talking about… Robert Lepage. Continue reading
London shows (June 2016)
- How the Other Half Loves, 6/11/16 (Sat), West End
- Showboat, 6/11/16 (Sat), West End
- In the Heights, 6/12/16 (Sun), King’s Cross
- Iris, 6/14/16 (Tues), Holland Park Opera
- The Invisible Hand, 6/15/16 (Wed), Tricycle
- Elegy, 6/16/16 (Thurs), Donmar
- The Flying Lovers Of Vitebsk, 6/18/16 (Sat), Sam Wanamaker
- The Comedy About a Bank Robbery, 6/19/16 (Sun), West End
- Macbeth, 6/19/16 (Sun), Globe
Toast/The Effect
Toast, 4/24/16 (Sun), Off Broadway
The Effect, 4/24/16 (Sun), Off Broadway
Toast: A revival of the debut piece by the entertaining British writer Richard Bean. I usually avoid US productions of UK shows because of differing acting styles and accents all over the map, but this was imported intact from London in the Brits on Broadway series. The unglamorous setting is a canteen in an aging bread factory, where the all-male work force whiles away the breaks between their grueling plant duties with cigarettes, stale sandwiches, idle talk (e.g. gossip about one worker’s affair with a toothless woman, eye-opening use for skate fish) and horseplay (a habit of crotch-grabbing in one guy’s case). Continue reading
Eternal Chikamatsu (エターナルチカマツ）
Eternal Chikamatsu
12 March 2016 (Sat), Tokyo
I decided rather on a whim to see this show, knowing only that it’s a riff on Chikamatsu Monzaemon’s 18th-century classic Love Suicide at Amijima (心中天網島) where characters from that play somehow interact with similar modern-day counterparts. I was interested in remarks made by the director, David Leveaux, that suggested he (along with the scriptwriter) did not have a good understanding of the notion of suicide in the context of Chikamatsu’s shows. I like both the leads, Fukatsu Eri and Shichinosuke, so I figured it might be worth catching. Continue reading
Terrace of the Leper King (ライ王のテラス )
ライ王のテラス (Terrace of the Leper King)
3 March 2016 (Thurs), Tokyo
15 March 2016 (Tues), Tokyo
Tickets to Miyamoto Amon’s production of this Mishima work, its first large-scale revival in over 40 years, were completely sold out on the strength of its rising star Suzuki Ryohei (helped by a great poster with the sculpted Ryohei sitting shirtless front and center). I had read the play and couldn’t make much sense of the rambling theme, but the story itself was certainly dramatic. Also, the Cambodian setting offered promising design possibilities, and Amon had brought in dancers from the Royal Ballet of Cambodia and acrobats from a traditional Cambodian circus called Phare. I was ready for anything. Continue reading
Tairo Jo: Puppet Hamlet
Taira Jo’s Hamlet
27 February 2016 (Sat), Tokyo
A second tragedy by puppeteer Taira Jo after last month’s Medea. The performance was sold out, impressive in this theater (Ueno Bunka Kaikan, typically a concert hall). At three-and-a-half hours, including two intermissions, this is not a show for the faint hearted. This was the show’s first and only performance, part of a three-play series commissioned by the hall. Continue reading
Tairo Jo: Puppet Medea
Taira Jo’s Medea, 17 Jan 2016, Tokyo
A puppet version of the Greek tragedy performed by Taira Jo, who adapted, directed, designed and performed the entire show and all characters. As a puppet lover, I had been curious about his plays, so this seemed as good a chance as any. Knowing this was a one-man show, I had expected an hour-long play and was taken aback when I heard it was in fact in two-and-a-half hours. And that was on top of my skepticism as to whether Medea is really a good choice for a puppet show. That said, I happily sit through Bunraku plays for five hours (though those involve a significantly larger cast), so I was willing to give this a chance.
It turned out to be a very appealing concept superbly realized. Continue reading
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