STRANGE FRUIT stage report (2013.05.16)
I went and saw STRANGE FRUIT about a week ago, and thought I'd write a bit about it. I wouldn't call it report, more like... a review? A short-version of the whole story?
(Just a small warning - this is lacking A LOT in detail.)
The play starts out with Chiba (Massu) coming out on stage, completely silent. He fumbles with a film camera in the corner, set on its tripod. Then a woman comes out, dressed in white, climbs onto a school desk placed under a tree. From the tree hangs a tied rope, in which she hangs herself. Everything turns dark, and by her heart, there is a red light pumping. On the walls colorful lights show up, music starts playing, and Chiba is running back and forth, seeming confused. It all turns dark, and next is the intro video playing.
The first part of the story is Chapter #5, it is the 1st of April, and there are people running around the stage, pulling on the fences stopping them from getting inside the grounds. Two women, one of them pregnant, and three men. They are all dressed in black, and on the middle of stage there is a white coffin. The actors run around between the seats in the theater. Finally an older man and his coworker arrive at the scene, unlock the gates to the grounds and let everyone in. The older man, Kurama (Yamamoto Akira) walks up the front of the stage, where he puts down a picnic basket. The other people come in, upset, saying they thought they came for a funeral service, not a picnic. He laughs, says their clothes are fit for a funeral.
Chiba comes out, they argue back and forth, he goes to his camera, still positioned in the corner. He films as they open up the coffin, at which everyone but Kurama seems upset. At the end of the scene, Chiba yells "CUT!", and everything turns dark again.
Next is Chapter #4. It is the 1st of January, and Harry (Kawaoka Daijiro) and Chiba are arguing about an art project. Chiba is saying their data for the project is gone, and he has no space left on his computer, and he finishes the argument with the fact that Harry only comes up with ideas, and then doesn't do anything else. On the other side of the stage Kana (Minamisawa Nao) and Morishita (Fukaya Yurika) are talking about Morishita's dress designs.
Kurama enters, puts his picnic basket down. One after one they show their artworks, starting with Morishita. She has no title for her project and nothing to say to represent her dress designs, and Kurama tells her she has a long way to go. Kana, however, is praised.
Harry, who doesn't have anything to show off, starts talking about an idea for an artwork. He calls it "Strange fruit", and it is the ultimate work of art. To take a dead body, and make it represent not death, but life. By opening up it's chest, and show the heart. Kurama asks if he is going to make that idea more than just an idea, a concept. Chiba walks up to him, hands him a knife, and asks if he can create it, right there. He points it at himself, with Harry's hand on the knife, and tells him to do it. He doesn't, and leaves it falling to the ground. Instead Morishita takes the knife, points it to Kana, as the only way for her to stay is if Kana goes away. In the end she can't do it, drops the knife, and instead asks Kana to take a picture of her. The shutter of Kana's camera doesn't go off.
Morishita and Harry leave the grounds, and only Kana and Chiba are left. Kana holds her hands on her chest, complaining about how her heart hurts, at which Chiba repeats her name over and over.
Chapter #3, 9th of October. Six people are creating their artworks. To the right is Akio (Furuyama Kentaro), painting on a wall. Akio is talking to Miharu (Ihata Juri) about a small house-like creation she has made, that is standing in front of the stairs to the left of the stage. She says the beautiful word in the world is supposed to be written on it, at which Akio adds that the most beautiful word in the world is said to be the word the writing person has heard the most in their life. As Miharu leaves, Akio writes a word on it, that only he can see in the position it is in at the moment. Suddenly a loud noise is heard, the noise of something falling from the scaffold Akio has been using while painting. Morishita comes rushing, telling the others that Miharu has fallen, and that it is a mess. Akio and Harry run to help, while Chiba and Kana remain. Kana takes a picture of the scene, and is surprised that she manages to successfully close the shutter. When asked why she's photographing, she answers that it looks perfect, at which Morishita says that she realized the reason she can't win against Kana. Chiba answers that the only reason Morishita is trying to be an artist is because she admires Miharu so much.
Akio carries Miharu over to the stairs, sets her down. There's blood smeared over her leg, and he insists that she needs to be taken to the hospital, especially considering her being pregnant. However, she refuses to leave the grounds, saying that Morishita needs her to be there. Akio shows her the word he wrote after she had left - "Miharu". She is surprised, asks him why her name is on it, at which he responds with "it's a beautiful name". He lifts her again, but before they leave grounds she asks Kana to take a picture of her. Kana is unable to close the shutter.
Chapter #2, 20th of July. Kana and Miharu sit on the stairs, Kana telling her about her childhood. Having lost her parents early she lived in an orphanage. In the evenings she used to go out, liked the nights better than the days, and there she found a friend. A boy, who used to take photos with his camera. He took pictures of her as well, and when they didn't turn out good she was disappointed, but he just told her that "It's my artwork, inside of my camera, in the fiction I'm making, so it's okay. I'll make you the main character of my story.", and she didn't put much more thought into it. Together they created stories, and in the end he gave her his camera.
Music starts playing, and out comes Inukai (Katou Kei), shouting that his artwork is done. Chiba tells him it's good, Inukai says that Chiba is a good person, which he apparently hears a lot. Inukai says he has never been called good, at which Chiba says he's lucky. To become a real artist, you need to be a bad person. That he wants to become a bad person.
Kurama enters. It is time for their first valuation of the artwork progresses. He sets down his picnic basket, gets asked why, and they decide to not call the meeting a valuation, but a picnic. He offers them sandwiches, at which they ask if his wife made them. He answers that no, his fiancée has been dead since a long time ago. They go on to the evaluation. Kurama praises Kana for her pictures, then questions the music, and Inukai starts explaining that the music he has made is supposed to be played for a whole year without being turned off. Kurama goes in and turns it off, then comes back out, asks Chiba to say what he thinks about Inukai's work. Instead of what he said to Inukai before, he now says that he thinks it's bad. Inukai gets ready to leave, and Kana snaps a picture of him.
Chapter #1, 1st of April. One after one the project members enter the grounds, Kurama is there to welcome them. Miharu, Morishita, Akio meet him for the first time, while Harry used to be his student. The three leave the grounds for the last time before being shut in for a year, but Harry stays. He starts talking about a legendary artwork, called Strange fruit, adds that Kurama was the one who created it, wasn't he. Kurama doesn't answer, so Harry continues that he will not be able to create such an artwork, and then disappears to his room.
Chiba arrives, knowing what is going on. Both he and Kana used to be Kurama's students.
Chiba: "Do you regret creating Strange fruit?"
Kurama: "No."
Chiba: "What did it feel like, to create it?"
Kurama: "It was the best feeling I have ever felt. You'll understand if you create it, you too."
And Chiba says that he would like to be allowed to create it. Then Kana enters, and Chiba asks her why she has come, at which she answers that she has come to die. She's has a heart disorder, her heart is constantly growing, and doesn't have a lot of time left. Chiba panicks, grabs both their bags and says that they have to go a hospital, he will work, they will find a doctor that can heal her. But she says that her talent for photographing will be over soon anyway, and "there's nothing left but to do it". They both know what she means, that she's talking about Strange fruit, and Chiba says that he won't do it. She tells him it has to be done with the person he loves the most, and that's her.
Chiba sets his video camera, Kana stands beside him, both of them crying.
Chiba: "The most beautiful word in the world is the word you have heard the most times in your life. I'll call your name over and over. I'll make it the most beautiful word."
He tells her that his chest hurts, and she responds that she is hurting, too.
Chiba: "It's okay. Because this is inside of my camera, in the fiction I'm making. I'll make you the main character of my story." They kiss. "Are you ready?"
Kana: "Is it okay for me to be here?"
Chiba: "ACTION!"
The stage turns dark again, and the play is over.
As for my comments on the play;
First of all: Wow. What a play. Everything from the story to the acting was amazing. It's hardly even possible to describe what a great job Massu did - he was so different from the usual image you have of him.
And how the play is done backwards, how the project members increase the further back in the story you come, how details aren't spoken clearly, or obviously connected, but you understand them anyway. Like how in the very end, you realize that Strange fruit is what Kurama did to his fiancée, and that Chiba has known all along that he will have to do it to Kana.
Sadly, I'm pretty sure this play won't ever go on DVD. I wish it would, because I would watch it over, and over, and over again. And because everyone who weren't able to go to the theatre to see it, would get a chance to watch this masterpiece.
There has been several reports in magazines by now, so I will complete this post with pictures from those magazines, soon enough. That's most likely the closest we will get to seeing this play outside the theatre halls.
「ぼくの作品の、ぼくのカメラの中の、作り話の中だから、大丈夫だよ。ぼくの物語の、主人公にしてやるよ。」
[(curtain call comments)]
Apparently Massu has been doing different things on different days, the day I went he threw his jacket open once, then threw kisses at the audience, and Katou threw a kiss at Massu, haha. The gap between his character and the actual Massu was so obvious when he came out for the curtain calls. Amazing.
(Just a small warning - this is lacking A LOT in detail.)
The play starts out with Chiba (Massu) coming out on stage, completely silent. He fumbles with a film camera in the corner, set on its tripod. Then a woman comes out, dressed in white, climbs onto a school desk placed under a tree. From the tree hangs a tied rope, in which she hangs herself. Everything turns dark, and by her heart, there is a red light pumping. On the walls colorful lights show up, music starts playing, and Chiba is running back and forth, seeming confused. It all turns dark, and next is the intro video playing.
The first part of the story is Chapter #5, it is the 1st of April, and there are people running around the stage, pulling on the fences stopping them from getting inside the grounds. Two women, one of them pregnant, and three men. They are all dressed in black, and on the middle of stage there is a white coffin. The actors run around between the seats in the theater. Finally an older man and his coworker arrive at the scene, unlock the gates to the grounds and let everyone in. The older man, Kurama (Yamamoto Akira) walks up the front of the stage, where he puts down a picnic basket. The other people come in, upset, saying they thought they came for a funeral service, not a picnic. He laughs, says their clothes are fit for a funeral.
Chiba comes out, they argue back and forth, he goes to his camera, still positioned in the corner. He films as they open up the coffin, at which everyone but Kurama seems upset. At the end of the scene, Chiba yells "CUT!", and everything turns dark again.
Next is Chapter #4. It is the 1st of January, and Harry (Kawaoka Daijiro) and Chiba are arguing about an art project. Chiba is saying their data for the project is gone, and he has no space left on his computer, and he finishes the argument with the fact that Harry only comes up with ideas, and then doesn't do anything else. On the other side of the stage Kana (Minamisawa Nao) and Morishita (Fukaya Yurika) are talking about Morishita's dress designs.
Kurama enters, puts his picnic basket down. One after one they show their artworks, starting with Morishita. She has no title for her project and nothing to say to represent her dress designs, and Kurama tells her she has a long way to go. Kana, however, is praised.
Harry, who doesn't have anything to show off, starts talking about an idea for an artwork. He calls it "Strange fruit", and it is the ultimate work of art. To take a dead body, and make it represent not death, but life. By opening up it's chest, and show the heart. Kurama asks if he is going to make that idea more than just an idea, a concept. Chiba walks up to him, hands him a knife, and asks if he can create it, right there. He points it at himself, with Harry's hand on the knife, and tells him to do it. He doesn't, and leaves it falling to the ground. Instead Morishita takes the knife, points it to Kana, as the only way for her to stay is if Kana goes away. In the end she can't do it, drops the knife, and instead asks Kana to take a picture of her. The shutter of Kana's camera doesn't go off.
Morishita and Harry leave the grounds, and only Kana and Chiba are left. Kana holds her hands on her chest, complaining about how her heart hurts, at which Chiba repeats her name over and over.
Chapter #3, 9th of October. Six people are creating their artworks. To the right is Akio (Furuyama Kentaro), painting on a wall. Akio is talking to Miharu (Ihata Juri) about a small house-like creation she has made, that is standing in front of the stairs to the left of the stage. She says the beautiful word in the world is supposed to be written on it, at which Akio adds that the most beautiful word in the world is said to be the word the writing person has heard the most in their life. As Miharu leaves, Akio writes a word on it, that only he can see in the position it is in at the moment. Suddenly a loud noise is heard, the noise of something falling from the scaffold Akio has been using while painting. Morishita comes rushing, telling the others that Miharu has fallen, and that it is a mess. Akio and Harry run to help, while Chiba and Kana remain. Kana takes a picture of the scene, and is surprised that she manages to successfully close the shutter. When asked why she's photographing, she answers that it looks perfect, at which Morishita says that she realized the reason she can't win against Kana. Chiba answers that the only reason Morishita is trying to be an artist is because she admires Miharu so much.
Akio carries Miharu over to the stairs, sets her down. There's blood smeared over her leg, and he insists that she needs to be taken to the hospital, especially considering her being pregnant. However, she refuses to leave the grounds, saying that Morishita needs her to be there. Akio shows her the word he wrote after she had left - "Miharu". She is surprised, asks him why her name is on it, at which he responds with "it's a beautiful name". He lifts her again, but before they leave grounds she asks Kana to take a picture of her. Kana is unable to close the shutter.
Chapter #2, 20th of July. Kana and Miharu sit on the stairs, Kana telling her about her childhood. Having lost her parents early she lived in an orphanage. In the evenings she used to go out, liked the nights better than the days, and there she found a friend. A boy, who used to take photos with his camera. He took pictures of her as well, and when they didn't turn out good she was disappointed, but he just told her that "It's my artwork, inside of my camera, in the fiction I'm making, so it's okay. I'll make you the main character of my story.", and she didn't put much more thought into it. Together they created stories, and in the end he gave her his camera.
Music starts playing, and out comes Inukai (Katou Kei), shouting that his artwork is done. Chiba tells him it's good, Inukai says that Chiba is a good person, which he apparently hears a lot. Inukai says he has never been called good, at which Chiba says he's lucky. To become a real artist, you need to be a bad person. That he wants to become a bad person.
Kurama enters. It is time for their first valuation of the artwork progresses. He sets down his picnic basket, gets asked why, and they decide to not call the meeting a valuation, but a picnic. He offers them sandwiches, at which they ask if his wife made them. He answers that no, his fiancée has been dead since a long time ago. They go on to the evaluation. Kurama praises Kana for her pictures, then questions the music, and Inukai starts explaining that the music he has made is supposed to be played for a whole year without being turned off. Kurama goes in and turns it off, then comes back out, asks Chiba to say what he thinks about Inukai's work. Instead of what he said to Inukai before, he now says that he thinks it's bad. Inukai gets ready to leave, and Kana snaps a picture of him.
Chapter #1, 1st of April. One after one the project members enter the grounds, Kurama is there to welcome them. Miharu, Morishita, Akio meet him for the first time, while Harry used to be his student. The three leave the grounds for the last time before being shut in for a year, but Harry stays. He starts talking about a legendary artwork, called Strange fruit, adds that Kurama was the one who created it, wasn't he. Kurama doesn't answer, so Harry continues that he will not be able to create such an artwork, and then disappears to his room.
Chiba arrives, knowing what is going on. Both he and Kana used to be Kurama's students.
Chiba: "Do you regret creating Strange fruit?"
Kurama: "No."
Chiba: "What did it feel like, to create it?"
Kurama: "It was the best feeling I have ever felt. You'll understand if you create it, you too."
And Chiba says that he would like to be allowed to create it. Then Kana enters, and Chiba asks her why she has come, at which she answers that she has come to die. She's has a heart disorder, her heart is constantly growing, and doesn't have a lot of time left. Chiba panicks, grabs both their bags and says that they have to go a hospital, he will work, they will find a doctor that can heal her. But she says that her talent for photographing will be over soon anyway, and "there's nothing left but to do it". They both know what she means, that she's talking about Strange fruit, and Chiba says that he won't do it. She tells him it has to be done with the person he loves the most, and that's her.
Chiba sets his video camera, Kana stands beside him, both of them crying.
Chiba: "The most beautiful word in the world is the word you have heard the most times in your life. I'll call your name over and over. I'll make it the most beautiful word."
He tells her that his chest hurts, and she responds that she is hurting, too.
Chiba: "It's okay. Because this is inside of my camera, in the fiction I'm making. I'll make you the main character of my story." They kiss. "Are you ready?"
Kana: "Is it okay for me to be here?"
Chiba: "ACTION!"
The stage turns dark again, and the play is over.
As for my comments on the play;
First of all: Wow. What a play. Everything from the story to the acting was amazing. It's hardly even possible to describe what a great job Massu did - he was so different from the usual image you have of him.
And how the play is done backwards, how the project members increase the further back in the story you come, how details aren't spoken clearly, or obviously connected, but you understand them anyway. Like how in the very end, you realize that Strange fruit is what Kurama did to his fiancée, and that Chiba has known all along that he will have to do it to Kana.
Sadly, I'm pretty sure this play won't ever go on DVD. I wish it would, because I would watch it over, and over, and over again. And because everyone who weren't able to go to the theatre to see it, would get a chance to watch this masterpiece.
There has been several reports in magazines by now, so I will complete this post with pictures from those magazines, soon enough. That's most likely the closest we will get to seeing this play outside the theatre halls.
「ぼくの作品の、ぼくのカメラの中の、作り話の中だから、大丈夫だよ。ぼくの物語の、主人公にしてやるよ。」
[(curtain call comments)]
Apparently Massu has been doing different things on different days, the day I went he threw his jacket open once, then threw kisses at the audience, and Katou threw a kiss at Massu, haha. The gap between his character and the actual Massu was so obvious when he came out for the curtain calls. Amazing.