Mono Theatre Group:
Hananira
An unMonotonous
family entertainment:
Mar 27 2019 Rohm
Theatre North Hall, 2pm
Mono is directed by playwright Tsuchida Hideo 土田英生,
a continuation of a group begun at Ritsumeikan 30 years ago. The four fellow
male actors he works with developed a style of fast-paced banter and
sentimentality in slightly-futuristic fantasies and situation comedies. I last
saw THIS IS HELL a decade or more ago, set in a waiting room that turned out to
be limbo, at Osaka Hankyu Hep Hall and a few other shows. The plays all seem to
be about nice guys in familiar situations, once a detective story, having verbal
misunderstandings, taking things too far, following logical extensions that
grow increasingly absurd. Although played for laughs, there are some serious
journeys into family life, truth, and friendship.
Tsuchida is also a successful screenwriter
for film and TV, and briefly moved to Tokyo. His workshops with my students at
the Kyoto’s University Consortium were always fun: he getting into bantering discussion
to pull out his themes of dramatic development through subtle inflections and indirect
phrases. They returned to Rohm Theatre in Kyoto after a decade away for a
four-city tour in a large-cast production, with newcomers including females.
From earlier, word-heavy, darker plays by the all-male company it seemed like a
refreshing breeze of spring. THere's a literary touch, and his scripts were available for sale in the lobby--along with DVDs of a dozen of their annual shows.
What follows is my summary of the play with my
imperfect Japanese understanding. Please send corrections anyone!
The play Hananira (Spring star flower) takes
place on a small island twenty years after an eruption of a volcano that killed
many people. The three older men we see had their wives and children killed;
the younger men and women are orphans, adopted into their community of six in
one house.
They share a backyard with the
kindergarten principal, who himself has adopted an orphan girl, after his wife
passed away. The teacher and his “daughter” get along well, joking, eating, and
going out with each other so much that one of the “fathers” says, ‘you’re more
like a couple than father-daughter.’ The widowed Teacher hints that he might be
interested in his wife’s sister—shades of Ozu--but reveals it to be a lie, created
to ensure his daughter got married and moved out someday. She is annoyed at
first, not understand if their life together as unrelated but not a couple is
different than most. “That’s how life is,” he explains, “sometimes you meet
people just by coincidence and they turn out to change your life forever.”
The play
opens with everyone worried about Asuna, the youngest, who hasn’t been around
the night before or this morning. She turns up, saying she went to recycle
bottles. But soon her Tokyo boyfriend shows up, ten-year older brother of her
“brother” housemate Matsukaza. Eiji and Shige fight like the boys they were
when the disaster struck, and Kenta keeps them apart; when Asuna walks in they
separate, shamed by their daughter.
There is a
commemorative event annually, and all are dressed in black. For lunch, the
Teacher places a small table with red tablecloth and even a candle, which
everyone mocks as too much. Turns out his daughter learns that Yoko, the
Teacher’s deceased wife, used to admire old French furnishings so thought she
would honor her memory. The housemates meanwhile can’t find a tablecloth so
spread a curtain and serve beer waiting for the food delivery, which is delayed.
The scenery gets a laugh: the one embarrassed family has an elegant European
feel, with champagne glasses to drink beer with, while the other ostentatiously
carefree but falling-apart family has a jerry-rigged, miserable-looking picnic
table. It is festive and somber, with nice small touches of gaiety and
fellow-feeling amid the chaos and recalled tragedy.
The family remember those who
died, reciting their names, and some of the things they were doing on the day.
Kenta feels sorry he sent his brother home, since he wasn’t feeling well when
cleaning the school; that’s how he was killed along with most women and
children in the houses. They drink and are in lively mood till Asuna says she
has something to say, doesn’t like sneaking around. She admits she wants to run
off with Rikuro to be married; this causes great consternation. Masukazu thought
she meant HIM, when she tried to confide in him earlier, but felt uncomfortable
cause he considered her a sister (earlier he had mistakenly washed their pants
with his, and didn’t know how to return it). We (the audience) supposed them to
be company workers in a dorm, or college kids, then slowly realized that they
were a put-together “family” of widowers and orphans.
Rikuro is
in conversation with the “family” about their agreeing to the marriage: 2
oppose, 2 are happy but surprised and a little angry, and Masukazu remains in
his room: he is angry with own brother, who hasn’t contacted anyone for a
decade, “stealing” the heart of his “sister”. Rikuro is hungry but they don’t invite
him in to enjoy the island specialty, lemon soba (?!); instead he goes to the
Teachers to have eggs over rice, omuraisu.
Asuna sneaks over to join him and they squabble a bit but he has to go back to
Tokyo and she doesn’t show him off. (No explanation why she didn’t come to meet
him or see him off. Just that she met him while on an excursion to Tokyo, and
decided to leave the island to be with him). Eiji is angry but more importantly
Kenji admits that he’s heard that the house is going to have to be abandoned as
an island building project. This means
with Asuna’s departure, all five will go off to live separately. This depressing
thought and anger at Rikuro/Asuna for sparking it continues.
The last
scene resolves the problems somewhat amicably. The “family” is indeed splitting
up. Shige and Eiji have fought, sending one to the police and other to
hospital. They return to give Asuna a box of old photos, an island custom. Poo
has grown friendly with foreign and other artists and the box is painted by her
boyfriend. Asuna receives it and gives tearful farewell to her fathers and
siblings. The wedding will take place on the island in August—all have come to
reconcile with it. And Rikuro and brother Matsukazu reconcile as well—they both
treasure a keychain they found on floor of a supermarket decades ago. The
error-prone broadcaster declares it’s time for the last boat to leave.
Mono Style
seems closely related to Yoshimoto Comedy, although with greater depth of
feeling and more groupwork. There are no “stars,” just a long-term chosen family
of friends that have obviously honed their acting style with each other.
Instead of randomly, two or more actors will face the same direction when
listening, say long “Oh” or “What” at same time, punctuate a conversation with
breathy intakes and aizuchi, “Sou desuka?”, “Heee?”and the like.
Physically they do double-takes, even falling backwards when reacting to
something strange, and saying a lot just by their posture, position, and glances.
This was an entertaining and
sometimes moving snapshot of Japan today. One could stretch it and say the play
is a reflection on the Fukushima triple disaster, young people leaving the
“island” of rural Japan, and new family relationships forming in the absence of
the nuclear family—but it would tear the more delicate fabric of this light
comedy. Although I don’t think there is any great philosophical probing going
on, these fantasies of the near-future seem to hold an only slightly distorted
mirror up to nature, reinforcing the basic goodness and fellow-feeling among
the Japanese—who could ask for anything more?
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