春琴  (Shunkin)

4 March 2008 (Tues), Tokyo Setagaya Public Theatre

This was an exploration of Tanizaki’s oft-staged novelette of the same name along with his famous essay “In Praise of Shadows”「陰翳礼賛」, both published in 1933. I’ve never been interested in seeing the play in the past nor had I seen any of the five film versions. This time, though, the director was Simon McBurney of Theatre de Complicité, who often works at this theater. I’ve been a fan of his physical style of theater for many years, including his intriguing version of the Murakami novel Elephant Vanishes 2-3 years ago. I waited too long to get tickets, as usual, but managed to get a 3F seat (fortunately in the center) on a weekday matinee. As it happens, the shows on this day had English subtitles, which turned out to be very fortunate. Over the weekend, I read the story, which is only 85 pages or so. It is a viciously cruel tale, but I can see where it lends itself to dramatization. With McBurney at the helm and the essay as part of the mix, I knew this was not going to be a straightforward telling. And I was right. Continue reading →