ミツル ２１： The Green Mile stage play report: Kyoto [2017.11.06]
Finally I've come to fulfill my promise.
Another report for this year, whew. Truth be told, I wasn't even sure at first if I would be able to watch this, given my circumstances and the unfortunate coincidences that piled up one after the other. But I'm glad how it worked out in the end, even if I had only one free day to go watch it and endure six-hour bus rides which I'm pretty sure my neurologist and physical therapist would have sternly disapproved of.
A bit of a background: I wasn't able to watch Shige's butai "Naka no Hito" because it was showing right before I moved to Japan, and I wasn't able to see Massu's butai "Friends" on my first year because of lack of financial preparation, so I had promised myself to go to their next stage plays, whoever was first.
And so I did.
The moment the play dates were revealed, I made up my mind to go see the final shows in Tokyo. I thought it was plausible, given that the weekend for the final shows fell between an office week (which meant a bigger possibility of free days since I don't have to be at any regular school to teach) and our eikaiwa's Halloween week (which native teachers primarily didn't have to teach). So along with some friends, we balloted for those shows..... but ended up not hitting, to my disappointment. For some reason, I wasn't too worried - I knew somehow that even if I had to rely on resales, the prices wouldn't be too high. Or so I thought.
I learned how to stalk ticket sites at this point and watched how the prices fluctuate - and even when some tickets were within my price range, I still procrastinated and didn't manage to really buy anything until the first Tokyo shows started (end of September). At this point I was still confident that all was fine...... until I got my October schedule, that is.
In contrast to what I had predicted, I was assigned to go cover a school two hours away from the city on my office week - up in the mountains. I was to teach from Tuesday to Friday (the 17th to the 20th), and then go back to Hiroshima city Saturday morning, which was supposed to be the day I was planning to fly from Hiroshima to Tokyo. The flight was scheduled to be around 9:30, and even if I did manage to take a direct bus from my classroom to Hiroshima airport, I would arrive at 8:30 or later (anticipating delays). With this conflict I decided to postpone the decision to book flights and buy tickets - a decision I would come to be thankful a few days later.
The 3rd of October I was rushed to the hospital after work because of a kidney stone, and for those 2-3 days of pain my entire budget for Shige's play evaporated. It was at that point that I finally decided to give up on the Tokyo final shows, since I was not willing to touch the rest of my savings nor was I willing to increase my credit card debt just so I can go watch the play. In any case, I still might be able to go to Kyoto instead, I had thought. Kyoto would be a good enough option, I reasoned. It would allow me to wait for payday to be able to get the tickets and reserve bus rides. Nov 6th Monday was most likely to be a day off, considering my regular teaching schedule. And if I had to get the shinkansen (just in case I miss my buses and I needed to travel quicker to and from Kyoto), I would still be able to afford it somehow. With these in mind, I begun hunting for tickets, and fortunately enough, found one which was well within my budget.
I pulled through October, battling kidney stone pains, anxiety over the possibility of being admitted to the hospital during the business trip, stress over work and our area's training seminar, and a bit of depression from having to deal with everything (along with the usual seasonal change). In the midst of it all, I didn't forget to download the movie and watch it in preparation for the play, since I was positive that I wouldn't be able to understand the context without seeing the original screenplay. (In hindsight, it was a good decision to do so.)
And then finally, the day came.
I took a day bus from Hiroshima - we departed around 6:30 and arrived in Kyoto around 13:30. I felt a bit sick and uncomfortable the first hour on the bus because I was seated almost at the back and I didn't know I could recline the chairs all the way (in order to spare my lower back the agony). Thankfully enough I felt better when I got to Kyoto, and I even managed to pay a visit to Kinkakuji, which seemed elusive to me every time I came to the Kansai area for travel. I came back to Kyoto station just in time to eat dinner before the play.
Kyoto Gekijo
I arrived to see all the stage play goers lining up in front of the main entrance. I took a few photos, then entered the venue (I was still scared shitless at this point because I had never tried to use a resale ticket before and I was apprehensive they'd check identities and stuff).
Near the entrances to the stage itself, they had set up an area for goods. Apparently only those with tickets can get inside and purchase the goods before the play, during the intermission, and after the play; and those who didn't have any tickets can only purchase goods when the performance was going on. I didn't have any prior plans to get the pamphlet, but decided at the last minute to do so, along with the book cover I was really planning to get. Right before we entered the venue, we were told to get one flyer each. I really wanted to snag more that one, but oh well.
Stage play goods: Pamphlet, flyer, book cover
My assigned seat was on the second floor and I was expecting it to be a mediocre seat, but I was greatly surprised when I got to my seat - I could see the stage really clearly, and it was as if I was directly looking at it from above. I loved how the theatre had arranged their audience seat blocking as well - people are seated right behind the spaces made by the people in front of them, so we can clearly see the stage without having to worry about our views being blocked. Perhaps the only thing that I wasn't too glad about was how everything seemed cramped. It was kind of hard to move and relax in your seat (my fault mainly for being, uh, vertically challenged), and if anyone in your row wants to go out, everyone would have to stand up and give way.
It was a pretty simple stage. From where I sat, there was a table on the far right (right next to a door), two beds in a diagonal line on the left, and the background was one huge prison, with the electric chair in the middle. I was already intrigued as to how they would utilize the entire space for the setting.
And then, the entire venue fell eerily silent, and all the lights went out, and I knew the play was about to begin.
There wasn't any voiceover or anything, but music (the kind you'd hear from the radio in those days, if I'm not mistaken). And then, there Shige was, delivering a monologue. They cut out the part with Elaine, but Shige narrates it anyway, about the setting of the story, the time when his character, Paul Edgecombe, was in charge of the Green Mile on Cold Mountain, and how he was suffering from a really bad urinary infection. And then the rest of the cast enters, with Ito Shunsuke (as Percy) shouting how they have a new arrival; Nakayama Yuichiro (as Brutus) and Nagata Ryo (as Dean) following right behind escorting Baruto (as John Coffey). Kanou Yukikazu (as Del) was already on one of the beds, poring over Mr. Jingles. The opening scenes went smoothly, and I was very impressed to hear Baruto really delivering John's "Boss" lines exactly as Michael Clarke Duncan had said them. The inmates were not physically behind bars for this production; instead, the guards escorted them to the beds and acted as they're closing the prison doors, with complete sound effects. Later on, Onodera Akira (as Hal) appeared as well, and was every bit the chief warden he was supposed to be.
[I didn't take any notes because I wanted to concentrate all my senses on the play, so please bear with this report, which I will be doing in bullet points. Also, I will be referring to the cast by their characters' names from now on. If I will remember other stuff, I'll add them as well.]
- I don't know why, but I was expecting Mr. Jingles to be a real mouse XD it was a toy, and I found myself laughing when Del sent it off running offstage and when "it" began climbing up and down the walls.
- An definite moment for me was the scene when John cured Paul of his bladder infection. Similar to the film, Paul was on the ground squirming in pain, and made his way to John, who grabbed him between his legs and performed the "healing" (with Del thinking Paul was being attacked and yelling as loud as he could). The light and sound effects were superb - it really did look and sound like the bugs / insects that dispersed out of John's mouth. The same thing happened when John resurrected Mr. Jingles after it got violently stepped on by Percy.
- Ooooooooh Wild Bill's entrance! I swear he was every bit as insane, wild, creepy and perverse as he's supposed to be and I have to give it to Kaji Naoto for brilliantly portraying his character! Him harassing Percy was actually cringeworthy and him rubbing his crotch every time he was on the bed was veeeeeeeeeeery distracting, gdi (which speaks volumes as to how realistic his acting was).
- Percy was also downright crazy and annoying lol. His eyes, most especially - I liked how they went all big and wild when it counts, like when he got groped by Bill or when he orders the switches on. The girlish squeals he does whenever he's threatened amused me as well.
- The light blocking that represented the walk to the electric chair was by far the most impressive theatrical adjustment they had done. All that they really did was to walk all over the stage following the rectangular light blockings, but they utilized the stage space quite well. At the very end, the prison bars at the back were pulled up and the electric chair was pushed forward, so Del could actually sit on it to be executed. They didn't actually use any water, so Percy had to stage act how he kept the sponge dry without Paul's knowledge. The scene ended with Percy shouting "第2スウィッチ、オン！" and the whole venue plunged into total darkness, so we didn't have to hear Del screaming in pain and acting out a really ugly scene. And so Act 1 ended with Del's execution.
- Act 2 opened with Wild Bill shouting at the top of his lungs "焼けた、炊きました！" which alluded to how Del died a grotesque death due to Percy's negligence. Very effective.
- Also, Act 2's set is the exact opposite of Act 1 - the beds are now at the right side of the stage, the table and door on the left side. Until now I still don't know how the heck they were able to move that door! It had looked like it was built into the wall of the set (unmovable in other words), so I can't figure out how they managed to transfer it to the other side.
- The plan to get John to Hal's wife was also really good, particularly the coke exchange between Paul and Wild Bill. And again, Percy! It was downright hilarious to see him all gagged and tied up as a punishment for him sabotaging Del's execution.
- They got a truck prop too, for that ride to the warden's house in order to heal the wife.
- Speaking of the wife - who played her character?! From my point of view she looked male, lol.
- The scene where John inflicts Mel's sickness onto Percy, who shot Wild Bill in turn, was every bit as I had expected. I admit I was quite surprised to see Percy actually use a gun prop similar to a real gun, complete with smoke (and sounds?).
- The three guards had quite a long scene afterwards - I reckon they were discussing as to why and how they are basically sentencing an innocent man to the electric chair. The creepy part was at the beginning, where Wild Bill's "ghost" appeared and fluttered menacingly around them. Still creepy until the end, lol.
- And again they did the light blockings for the walk towards the electric chair, towards John's execution. I knew already what was going to happen at this point, but this didn't stop me from being teary-eyed - since Shige himself was teary-eyed as well.
- The play ends once again with Shige's monologue, about how everyone had already died and moved on but he still is alive along with Mr. Jingles, about how each and everyone of us will eventually find death and will walk that final walk to where it is waiting. I found it very fitting when he ended with the words "このグリーンマイルは、長すぎる。"
It was a great play. A very great play indeed, and I am proud of Shige for having risen up to this challenge. While it does have its differences to the movie version (of course), the stage play has not disappointed on portraying the essence and moral of the story. The execution was well done and the cast was excellent in delivering their lines with precision according to their characters. For me, though Shige technically holds the main role, the rest of the cast had been really impressive in their own right and I can only imagine the amount of internalization they had done in order to prepare for the play. Costumes, sound effects also are on point - such as small details like the sound of the prison bars being pulled and locked into place. As someone who had a bit of theatre history, this play had been one of the best ones I have seen so far - screenplay and setting wise - and I can only wish it had a longer run.
After the play all of us filled out a survey, and since my Japanese is still weak I half-filled it with English.
I was able to catch the night bus back to Hiroshima, and that was the only negative thing about this trip actually, forcing myself to sleep in my seat without having the freedom to recline my seat. I'm not sure if I will be able to take the bus again for trips like these, but Green Mile will definitely not be my last NEWS - or Shige - play. :)