after the earthquake
"after the earthquake" is unique -- each production element is pristine. Continuing at Long Wharf Theater in New Haven through Mar. 19th, we visit Japan, in 1995, after the Kobe quake. Chicago's Steppenwolf Theater premiered the piece five months ago. The creative team has had the time to sculpt and perfect. Haruki Murakami's two short stories provide the material for director Frank Galati to blend distinctively into masterful, moving, lyrical theater.
Unless my eyes betray me, it seems that translator Jay Rubin has been slighted. I could not find his name in the playbill. Rubin takes Murakami's script and transforms it, with grace and substance, into the English language. Without Rubin, theatergoers lose.
Two stories interface: "Honey Pie" tells of a former athlete Takatsuki (Andrew Pang) who couples with Sayoko (Aiko Nakasone). The third person (and out of the intimate loop) is author Junpei (Hanson Tse) -- until.....the end of the play.
Takatsuki and Sayoko do split up which allows Junpei to emerge anew. Her daughter, Sala (Big Klein at the performance I saw) could not be more precious.
"Honey Pie" also features bears.
The more outrageous tale, called "Super-frog Saves Tokyo," finds Katagiri (Pang, once again) cast as a courageous yet undervalued man from a bank who interfaces with a large frog/man (Keong Sim) who wears bright green gloves, socks, and eyeglasses. The bad egg, in this case, is a worm. Within the culture, according to Beatrice Basso (LW dramaturg and literary associate), who facilitated an enlightening talk back session, the worm symbolizes a catfish which can cause earthquakes by moving its tale. Terrible events might occur and people must cope. The worm, underground, is not visible but it is potentially most destructive.
The Frog references Hemingway, Dostoyevsky, Nietzsche, Tolstoy, and Conrad. This might distract some theatergoers who will wonder that even momentary digression alters the storyline. I am partial to the quick-witted allusions which add spice and dimension.
Jeff Wichmann plays koto, a stringed instrument dating to seventh century Japan. Jason McDermott, beside him, is on cello. The live music includes Franz Schubert's "Trout," "You Light up My Life" (remember Debby Boone?), and John Lennon's "Norwegian Wood" (visualize the cover of "Rubber Soul" if you will).
I gather that Murakami's fiction is filled with some monstrous images. Maybe so. "after the quake," however, is most poetic and personal. The actors are relaxed but still quite fresh in performance. And the writer, Murakami, is not one to watch this play. Rubin, the forgotten man, will be there to discuss the production after the upcoming, March 12th, matinee -- at 3:30 or so. Someone should shake his hand and/or give him a neat, little round of applause.
One could classify "after the quake" as existential. After all, individuals, here, must struggle with destructive forces in the world. These phenomenons may be gargantuan or indecipherable. How does one find love, find meaning when threatened?
See New Orleans, see the Middle East, see "after the earthquake."
Unless my eyes betray me, it seems that translator Jay Rubin has been slighted. I could not find his name in the playbill. Rubin takes Murakami's script and transforms it, with grace and substance, into the English language. Without Rubin, theatergoers lose.
Two stories interface: "Honey Pie" tells of a former athlete Takatsuki (Andrew Pang) who couples with Sayoko (Aiko Nakasone). The third person (and out of the intimate loop) is author Junpei (Hanson Tse) -- until.....the end of the play.
Takatsuki and Sayoko do split up which allows Junpei to emerge anew. Her daughter, Sala (Big Klein at the performance I saw) could not be more precious.
"Honey Pie" also features bears.
The more outrageous tale, called "Super-frog Saves Tokyo," finds Katagiri (Pang, once again) cast as a courageous yet undervalued man from a bank who interfaces with a large frog/man (Keong Sim) who wears bright green gloves, socks, and eyeglasses. The bad egg, in this case, is a worm. Within the culture, according to Beatrice Basso (LW dramaturg and literary associate), who facilitated an enlightening talk back session, the worm symbolizes a catfish which can cause earthquakes by moving its tale. Terrible events might occur and people must cope. The worm, underground, is not visible but it is potentially most destructive.
The Frog references Hemingway, Dostoyevsky, Nietzsche, Tolstoy, and Conrad. This might distract some theatergoers who will wonder that even momentary digression alters the storyline. I am partial to the quick-witted allusions which add spice and dimension.
Jeff Wichmann plays koto, a stringed instrument dating to seventh century Japan. Jason McDermott, beside him, is on cello. The live music includes Franz Schubert's "Trout," "You Light up My Life" (remember Debby Boone?), and John Lennon's "Norwegian Wood" (visualize the cover of "Rubber Soul" if you will).
I gather that Murakami's fiction is filled with some monstrous images. Maybe so. "after the quake," however, is most poetic and personal. The actors are relaxed but still quite fresh in performance. And the writer, Murakami, is not one to watch this play. Rubin, the forgotten man, will be there to discuss the production after the upcoming, March 12th, matinee -- at 3:30 or so. Someone should shake his hand and/or give him a neat, little round of applause.
One could classify "after the quake" as existential. After all, individuals, here, must struggle with destructive forces in the world. These phenomenons may be gargantuan or indecipherable. How does one find love, find meaning when threatened?
See New Orleans, see the Middle East, see "after the earthquake."
posted by Fred Sokol at 7:34 AM
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