The following includes reviews of various Fringe shows which were promoted as part of the 'Japan Experience' at the Edinburgh Festival, or were otherwise Japan-related. This year most of the events were at a small venue, the Garage, near the Traverse theatre. The number of Japan-related events seems much reduced compares with 2001, and of these most of the companies also were present in 2001.
I attended just four Japan-related shows, two from the Garage's "Japan Experience" and two elsewhere. These represent all I could find in one week that I hadn't already seen in some guise.
Company East
I saw Company East's Medea two years ago and was impressed. This is a similar reworking of the famous "Scottish play", condensed to just over an hour, with an emphasis on dance, music and movement and costume.
This is a powerful and atmospheric work, with an excellent musical accompaniment. The eight witches who form a chorus are on stage for most of the time. Influences include traditional Japanese Noh theatre, Western theatre and jazz dance.
Unlike "Medea", "Macbeth" has dialogue in English, which will help those with a little knowledge of the play know which scene is being played, but the strong Japanese accents of Sho Tohno (Macbeth) and Hiroshi Jin (Macbeth) don't make for a very effective English-language performance.
This show also got good reviews in the regional Press.
A.P.E. Productions
Hanako, a mentally disturbed girl, waits for Yoshio, a young man who has gone away. The play, a combination of traditional Noh styles and Western expressionism, explores Hanako's mind, expressing her thoughts in physical form. Much of the performance consists of poetry and percussive music.
The stage designs are attractive, as are the costumes and the actress playing Hanako herself. The piece is well played, but at just over half an hour long, it seems rather slight. Also the technical aspects of the production, with sound coming solely from behind the audience, seemed clunky and improvised.
(Run ended)
The Holding Company
A Japanese-influenced dance work by two Westerners, Maria Berry and Chris Day. According to the programme, this piece had six themes blending into each other, and the soundtrack contained nine different sequences.
The opening, which had one performer part-hanging from wires fixed in the cieling, and the other leaning on half a dozen long sticks, looked interesting, but it became rather less interesting as it went on. The music didn't vary much, and a slow progression between awkward positions didn't make for absorbing dance.
Their movements didn't have the precision and lack of wobbling required to carry this kind of thing off. The most interesting feature was the gradual unwinding of a bandage on Berry's ankle - a real injury, perhaps, as she seemed to be favouring the other foot.
Show-kobo
Rakugo = traditional Japanese sit-down storytelling. Kakushow = slapstick + Rakugo + puppetry.
Mr Kakushow performs seated on a cushion on a small stage. The first part of the show is an introduction to Rakuko. Kakushow tells the story of a man's job interview and his subseqient employment as a tiger in a zoo (my attention wandered towards the end and I missed the punchline). Then he skilfully cuts paper into the shape of various animals, presenting the results to younger members of the audience.
The final part of the show is a more physical performance, a puppet tale in which the Earth is threatened by an ecological apocalypse. Props include some ingeniously packed triangular boxes, and triangular columns that rotate like street advertising signs. His knees, in costume, become battling adversaries, and when his alter egos try to stab each other with chopsticks it's quite alarming. (Young children should love it).
The whole show is short and quite bitty, but if you catch it you'll not be sorry you went.
(Run ended)