KANTAN and SOTOBA KOMACHI. By Yu- wonderful origami mobile dominate the room.%0Akio Mishima. Shin-Kobe Orienta.pdf

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Review
Author(s): Robert Gardner
Review by: Robert Gardner
Source:
Theatre Journal,
Vol. 42, No. 4, Disciplines of Theater: Fin De Siècle Studies (Dec., 1990),
pp. 497-499
Published by: The Johns Hopkins University Press
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3207729
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THEATRE
REVIEW / 497
suicideis
of
Was
to
identified Latreaumont. thisa reference versary the author's
as
samurai-styled
is
Whatis surprising thatthese
whose book not surprising.
Comtede Latreaumont
(1846-1870)
of
chamber
the
difficult
Chants Maldoror
de
described beauty chance compact,
piecesin thehandsof
and
to
incidents who was citedby someas a surre- theNinagawa
prove be so theatrically
Company
is
of
that
If
this
The
alist? so,itfit collection actors seemed dynamic. successoftheproduction due in
first
sensuousvi-
to
associated randomness and intersectionsno smallmeasure thesplendidly
by
ofsurprise avoidance
and
second.
sualandauralstyle
established Yukio
Ninagawa
by
If
closer
andhisassociates. thestyle
seemsattimes
social tothevividcolors kabuki
seemtorepresent current
the
Theseartists
thantothehalf-tones
of
If
and cultural
performancesofnohitnevertheless
margin. so, do their
the
rich-
reveals unexpected
ven- ness ofMishima's
within
communicate
hegemonic
effectively
texts.
ues? One answerto thisquestionis thatthere
betweenthe artists' Kantan, first on theprogram, directed
the
is
appears to be a separation
play
in
and the effects
Hid-
intent
but
himself byhisassociate,
produced performance.notbyNinagawa
beliedtheoccasion.Previously eyasu Murai.Layered
overa fourteenth-century
Finley's
intensity
and
in
of
a
she has performed bars,cabarets, off-off-
dramaby Zeami,it tellsthestory Jiro, pre-
all quitedifferent thecleanand cocious
from
the
whovisits homeofhis
Broadway,
young
skeptic,
Art
that acrossthehall former
sits
Walker Center
Kiku.Therehe fallsasleepon
nursemaid,
orderly
Pefianeeds a magic
Theater.
from venerable
the
Guthrie
which rumored teach
to
menthe
is
pillow
an environment crackles
with vibrancy absurdity existence. thedream
the
of
that
of
In
which
follows,
done Jiro offered conventional
realcross-cultural
clashes.His performance,
is
the
of human
goods
in Miami,San Diego,Tucson,or Amarillo
would life-marriageand family,sensual pleasure,
and inspire
But
bristle
whites
Latinos. hisWalker money power-buthe rejects
all.
and
them When,
multi- however, is offered
ArtCenter
audiencewas not significantly
he
that
poisonhe rejects too,
but
ofhisperformance, they becausehis vianegative
racial.
leads notto
They
approved
paradoxically
with deathbutto new life.Awakening, encounters
were freefrom
theircommitments
he
testing
is notfrom
the Kiku and forces
thoseseatedaround
them.
her to experience own re-
her
Jesurun
nor
His
defined
gender racially
margin. is an effete newal.In thefinal
imageofplay,Kikuletsgo of
that
himaccessible
to those her past and her dead garden miraculously
makes
only
separation
familiar
withhis pastcreations.
Thoseunfamiliar blooms.
withhis former
or
efforts, estranged thisone,
by
it
and
rather Compressed,surreal,and ironic,Mishima's
consider narcissistic indulgent
might
Kantan
the
of
challenges imagination itsproducer.
thanprovocative captivating.
and
TheNinagawa
with simple,
a
Company
responds
These art workswere performance
novelties evocative
a
setting,
beautifully
sculptural
lighting,
within
mainstream
venues.Thatfact
does notdi- haunting
musicalscore,and strong,
jazz-based
minish Walker's
in
the
interest supporting un- preciseperformances. Jiro, Matsudais a
the
As
Yoji
but it does suggest
thatthe creative walking paradox, oncedisarming mad-
Zen
at
and
traditional,
force efficacy performance
and
of
artists these dening.
like
most theplayhe seemsgood-
of
Through
wanes rapidly
whenremoved
from vortex
the
of natured,
facile hisnihilistic
in
bravado.
Onlywhen
theissues thattheyaddressor whentheform
is challenged killhimself
to
does he exposedeeper,
so erudite
that content obscure.
the
is
Rumi
more
honest
emotions.
Matsumoto an at-
is
tractive surprisingly
and
youngKiku,moreolder
KENT NEELY sister
thansurrogate
mother Jiro. contrast
for
In
TwinCities toMatsuda, is straightforward vulnerable,
University Minnesota,
and
she
of
a prisoner conventional
of
and senti-
thoughts
mentswho ultimately
mustbe "rescued"by the
boy-hero.
was
Her nursery artfully
designed Tsukasa
by
as a place wherechildhoodis pre-
Nakagoshi
a
a
served; largetoybox, woodentrain and a
set,
KANTAN and SOTOBA KOMACHI. By Yu- wonderful
mobiledominate
the room.
origami
kio Mishima.Shin-Kobe Oriental Theater, WhenJiro
fallsasleepon a mysteriously
glowing
Kobe, Japan. February1990.
the
moonin
pillow, nursery
giveswayto a silver
a deepbluesky.
this
the
Against dreamscape, var-
That two of Mishima's"modernnoh plays" ious figures Kantan
of
mod-
appear:thestrikingly
shouldbe produced markthetwentieth
to
anni- ernbeauty
whomarries thesensuous,
balletic
Jiro,
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498
/
Theatre
Review
beautiful suicide, itself an act of imagination,
seems preferableto Komachi's crabbed, circular
existence.
becomes appar-
Ninagawa's directorial
strategy
ent when thecurtainriseson a breathtakingly
lush
scene (designed by Nakagoshi). Dark green
park
bushes punctuated by blood-red camellias over-
whelm the stage. Five sets of attractive,well-
dressed lovers rapturouslyembrace on symmet-
musicfills
the
rically
arrangedbenches as romantic
air. The scene is, of course, too perfect its con-
in
and the artifice soon exposed by a
is
ventionality,
Vivid as the dream sequence is, director
Murai disconcerting,
repetitivesound-lovely camellias
saves his best effects last. As Kiku abandons driftto the ground in a manner appropriate to
for
her hopes of recovering the past, time seems sentimental
stage productions,but theyland with
to stop. As the music changes, the lights unmistakably
abruptly
plasticplops!As the productioncon-
and we are suddenly outside where Jiro tinues, so too do these disconcertingplops, un-
shift,
prances in slow motion across a stage filledwith dercuttingsentimentalmoods and calling atten-
nature of the performance.
huge, delicate white flowers-chrysanthemums, tion to the theatrical
lilies, mokuran, bridlewreath-forKiku's garden
Similarly, when the flamboyantly tattered,
has blossomed. Then, as abruptlyas before,the
action freezes, the white moon bleeds into a red hunched form of Komachi shuffles across the
that
then begins to speak in a register
sun, and the lightsfade to a pin-spoton the skull- stage-and
like face of young Jiro.His mocking, enigmatic is obviously masculine-it is clear that we are in
a world of illusions where thingsare not as they
laughter suggests that the via negativehas not
seem. The castingof a male actor(Haruhiko Jo)in
ended, thatlifeeven in its abundance and beauty
the role of Komachi is, of course, consistentwith
must stillyield to the sensuous power of death.
the noh tradition. But whereas cross-gendered
The second play on the programis darkerand casting "disappears" in the stylized conventions
more disturbing.Based on noh plays by Kanami of noh, in the more illusionisticsettingof Mishi-
when
and Zeami, SotobaKomachi
focuses upon Ono no ma's play it jars and disturbs--particularly
Komachi, once a celebratedbeauty (and in actu- we realize that the attractivecouples embracing
ality,though not in Mishima's version, a famous on the park bench are not male and female but
poetess) of the imperialcourt,but now an ugly old male and male. In fact,all thewomen ofthisshow
between sexual
buttsin a city are played by men. The conflict
beggar woman. Collectingcigarette
and social
park, she encountersa young poet and begins to identity
keyissue in thebisexual
role--a
with him about the nature of life. For the Mishima's life and work-is thus centralto Nin-
argue
are
poet what matters the sublime,ephemeralmo- agawa's production.
mentsof passion, beauty,and transformation;
for
In the splendidly decadent climax of the play,
Komachi what mattersis mundane reality-vul-
disjunctionsbetween male and female,beautyand
and boring.
gar, trivial,
ugliness, illusion and realityare focused into an
As the argumentunfolds, Komachi transports unforgettable
image. As the dyingpoet (Michihiro
the poet back in time to a Meiji-eraball when she Inoue) passionately declares the grotesque man/
an
was an aloofbeautypursued by a desperatelylove- woman Komachito be eternally
beautiful, opera
sick Captain Fukakasa. Past and presentbegin to aria swells in the backgroundwhile a virtualtor-
fuse as the poet, now in the role of the Captain, rentof camellias buries the lovers. The conclusion
begins to see Komachi not as she is at ninety-nine is trueto Mishima,whose lifeand death, according
but as she was at nineteen. Finally, despite Ko- to novelist Kenzaburo Oe, were a kind of per-
machi's warnings,he declares her to be eternally formancedesigned to present to an international
beautifuland, like the Captain, chooses to die in audience theimage ofan archetypal
Japanese.The
his own intoxicating
vision ratherthan live on the conclusion is perhaps less true to the Buddhist
noh: in the
with Komachi into a disillusioningfuture.When world-viewwhich informstraditional
the action returnsto the present,it appears that central Zen paradox of Kanami's original Sotoba
"That which is called illusion is Salva-
thoughthe cynicalKomachi may be "correct,"the Komnachi,
dead poet actually has won the argument: his tion"; in Ninagawa's versionofMishima's modern
dancing girls who tryto seduce him, the robot-
like male secretary
who carriesout his orders,bi-
zarre dwarfswho serve as doctorsand politicians,
and finallythe "celebrated physician" (costumed
by Lily Komine as a golden Buddha) who triesto
poison him. Staging is simple, and the choreog-
raphy is economical. Dream figuresappear, con-
verge into a livingsculptureof the many-headed
Buddha, and disappear while Koji Ogawa's sax-
dominated score and Tamotsu Harada's dynamic,
strongly colored lights (often filteredthrough
smoke) alterand underscorethe mood.
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THEATRE REVIEW
/
499
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Caroline Luat, Ted Altschuler,Lisa Tejero, Russell Kuzuhara, Barbara Sambol,
CherylHamada, in WhoKilledtheDragonLady,by Gary Iwamoto. Angel Island Theatre Co.
International
TheatreFestival of Chicago.
noh play, itseems as likelythatsalvationmay only
be illusion.
Kansai University Foreign Studies
of
smaller theatertroupes struggleto address some
of the same issues.
The Angel Island TheatreCompany is Chicago's
current emerging Asian American performance
group. Witha titlelike WhoKilledtheDragonLady?
one approaches theAngel Island performance
per-
haps expecting a frontalattack on the Western
institutional
dragon lady stereotype.Maybe, a de-
construction unlike Hwang's attemptto break
not
the butterfly
myth.It quicklybecomes, all too ob-
vious that the dragon lady of the titleis literally
the centralcharacter what the programcalls "an
to
outrageous comedy." The play centers on the
chaos which ensues when the wealthy matriarch
ofa Japanese-American
owned frozenseafood em-
is murdered.Her death engenders a struggle
pire
the
among her childrenover who will inherit fam-
sushi fortune,with in-laws and sibling mur-
ily
dered as the play progresses.
Matriarch Carmen Dragon Yaki played by
CherylHamada is rendered as a caricatureof the
stereotypedragon lady with accent and gestures
worthyof racist cartoon sources. In contrasther
childrenseem an attempt providea crosssection
to
ROBERT GARDNER
THE DRAGONS' TRILOGY. Collaborative
work by ThetitreRepfre (Montreal, PQ).
InternationalTheatre Festivalof Chicago.
8 June 1990.
WHO KILLED THE DRAGON LADY? By
Gary Iwamoto. Angel Island Theatre
Company, SynergyTheatre Center, Chi-
cago. 24 June 1990.
Giventheinterest Asianstereotyping
in
raised
theNew Yorkproduction M. Butterfly
of
and
by
the Londonproduction Miss Saigon,
of
two pro-
in
ductions Chicago
someinsight how
into
provide
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All use subject to
JSTOR Terms and Conditions

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