Post by joem on Mar 6, 2024 22:52:40 GMT
Seven actors sat at a long bar address the audience - but never each other - with a series of exhortations, epithets quotes and reminiscences, telling fragments of a story or stories in an impressionistic manner which never come together to form an actual narrative while they get drunk.
Based on the unfinished work by Japanese author Ozamu Dasai- he committed suicide before finishing it (no comment), this is a very personal work, so personal I doubt anyone in the theatre understood it. It touches on the Second World War and its legacy to Japan, on what it meant to be Japanese after that... but this is not necessarily apparent during the play.
Backed by Japanese rock band Kukangendai who provide a constant, monotonous droning guitar/bass/percussion rhythm (think Can or Tangerine Dream) which rises and falls in level and urgency the Chiten Theatre Group - one of Japan's foremost experimental theatre companies apparently - deliver a challenging, and not especially rewarding, performance in Japanese, with sub-titles in English..
This, to me, is performance art rather than theatre. A bit like some early Peter Handke plays the characters are arbitrary, undefined and nothing other than loose mouthpieces for the writer who does not feel the need to give them life or shape - it's not about them, it's about him.
Reading up on the work beforehand will not produce spoilers but helpers. Information provided on the Coronet's website will help understand the author and adapter's intentions and certainly will not spoil the show. I would recommend it if anyone does feel inclined to watch this.
Based on the unfinished work by Japanese author Ozamu Dasai- he committed suicide before finishing it (no comment), this is a very personal work, so personal I doubt anyone in the theatre understood it. It touches on the Second World War and its legacy to Japan, on what it meant to be Japanese after that... but this is not necessarily apparent during the play.
Backed by Japanese rock band Kukangendai who provide a constant, monotonous droning guitar/bass/percussion rhythm (think Can or Tangerine Dream) which rises and falls in level and urgency the Chiten Theatre Group - one of Japan's foremost experimental theatre companies apparently - deliver a challenging, and not especially rewarding, performance in Japanese, with sub-titles in English..
This, to me, is performance art rather than theatre. A bit like some early Peter Handke plays the characters are arbitrary, undefined and nothing other than loose mouthpieces for the writer who does not feel the need to give them life or shape - it's not about them, it's about him.
Reading up on the work beforehand will not produce spoilers but helpers. Information provided on the Coronet's website will help understand the author and adapter's intentions and certainly will not spoil the show. I would recommend it if anyone does feel inclined to watch this.