Mikado, London Coliseum, Jonathan Miller, original director Feb 27 2008 Tradition is a funny thing. Although “only” 120 years old, the Mikado’s tradition of coy and pretty 3 girls, kimonos and large fans, scraping and kow-towing, and general simpering and mewing is dispensed with in this Mikado. Instead, “we are gentleman of Japan” is sung and actors squeeze their eyes into a slant—but they are dressed in formal 1920s tuxes and maid/bellboy uniforms of some grand, country hotel. Leads saunter in with lacrosse and tennis rackets, billiard cues and golf clubs, drink whiskey-and-waters, and furiously dust everything in sight. A cello, a grand piano, circular sofa, and large palm fronds—all in bone- white or yellow are framed by huge doors and windows. This is England in the ‘20s, not Japan in the 17th century, yet Titipu, yumyum and all the other odd names and dialogue remain the same. The effect is to have yet another layer of parody: England’s post-Imperial pomposity and corruption seen
an occasional document of theatrical life in Kyoto and the virtual world at the beginning of the 21st century