If I were to die....
About an hour ago, I got out of seeing Shige's stageplay "SEMINAR"
It was very well done.
My brain currently hurts ALOT. I could follow the storyline and understand most of the dialogue, however, it was bang-bang-bang... so fast, so many words and vocab to convert into English, while trying to pay attention to what was going on on the stage. But I am pretty pleased with it. I found quite a few of the English references a little confusing to understand with their Japanese pronunciation.
Shige did a great job. He impressed me no end, especially in the second (and most climatic) half of the show.
The final scene was so incredibly jilting and moving... Shige dealt with and portrayed his character extremely realistically, and I felt a strong surge of emotion as the final plot diverted from what I was expecting to see.
I don't want to spoil the story, and I know that daelite is writing a proper report on the show's contents, so please read that instead (her comprehension is far better than mine anyway!!)
Shige, in my opinion, isn't a "naturally good" kind of actor, however he obviously worked extremely hard, with alot of dedication, which made the show a performance worth watching. His character was played with just the right level of cockiness, intelligence and charisma, as well as humanity. The other actors, especially Kato Natsuki, also did amazing jobs. Each character was subtly different in their styles, personalities and problems, and this was very clearly conveyed to the viewer.
The show included several instances of quirky humor, which brought out Shige's cheeky and sweet side. In one scene, one of the female characters is complaining about her butt. During this conversation, Shige's character gets down on his hands and knees and literally sticks his butt out, facing the audience, and moves it in time with his lines. It was apparent, because of the pants he was wearing (black, high wasted) that his own butt is almost rather flat, the distinct opposite of Yamapi's.
Another cute moment was in that same scene, before the butt discussion. The female character was sunbaking, while listening to ABBA's "Dancing Queen". She begins singing the chorus, and Shige's character, while looking annoyed that she is disrupting his book-reading, joins in on the "Ooh Yeah" part of the chorus.
All in all, the show had a very interesting storyline, in the way that it dealt with human nature, life and it's meaning and value, social interactions and what is right and wrong. It is great that the world premiere of this play was in Japan, and one day I'd love to see it again in English, not so much for a clearer understanding of the dialogue, but purely because of the storyline and the way it really spoke to me.
SIDE NOTES: The venue
Tokyo Globe is a TINY theatre. We sat in the 10th row, and it was perfect... not too close, or too far away. I swear it would be impossible to be "too far away" though, for the venue is smaller than the theatre in my hometown of 15,000 people! The pamphlet was definitely worth the 2000 yen paid... it has a lovely cover design, the paper is very good quality, beautiful images, and even a dictionary of key foreign words used in the script.
There was no special guest at our show. As far as I know, out of NEWS, only Massu has been to see the show, so hopefully someone else (KOYAMA!!) will go either tonight, or tomorrow (the last day of Tokyo performances).
It was very well done.
My brain currently hurts ALOT. I could follow the storyline and understand most of the dialogue, however, it was bang-bang-bang... so fast, so many words and vocab to convert into English, while trying to pay attention to what was going on on the stage. But I am pretty pleased with it. I found quite a few of the English references a little confusing to understand with their Japanese pronunciation.
Shige did a great job. He impressed me no end, especially in the second (and most climatic) half of the show.
The final scene was so incredibly jilting and moving... Shige dealt with and portrayed his character extremely realistically, and I felt a strong surge of emotion as the final plot diverted from what I was expecting to see.
I don't want to spoil the story, and I know that daelite is writing a proper report on the show's contents, so please read that instead (her comprehension is far better than mine anyway!!)
Shige, in my opinion, isn't a "naturally good" kind of actor, however he obviously worked extremely hard, with alot of dedication, which made the show a performance worth watching. His character was played with just the right level of cockiness, intelligence and charisma, as well as humanity. The other actors, especially Kato Natsuki, also did amazing jobs. Each character was subtly different in their styles, personalities and problems, and this was very clearly conveyed to the viewer.
The show included several instances of quirky humor, which brought out Shige's cheeky and sweet side. In one scene, one of the female characters is complaining about her butt. During this conversation, Shige's character gets down on his hands and knees and literally sticks his butt out, facing the audience, and moves it in time with his lines. It was apparent, because of the pants he was wearing (black, high wasted) that his own butt is almost rather flat, the distinct opposite of Yamapi's.
Another cute moment was in that same scene, before the butt discussion. The female character was sunbaking, while listening to ABBA's "Dancing Queen". She begins singing the chorus, and Shige's character, while looking annoyed that she is disrupting his book-reading, joins in on the "Ooh Yeah" part of the chorus.
All in all, the show had a very interesting storyline, in the way that it dealt with human nature, life and it's meaning and value, social interactions and what is right and wrong. It is great that the world premiere of this play was in Japan, and one day I'd love to see it again in English, not so much for a clearer understanding of the dialogue, but purely because of the storyline and the way it really spoke to me.
SIDE NOTES: The venue
Tokyo Globe is a TINY theatre. We sat in the 10th row, and it was perfect... not too close, or too far away. I swear it would be impossible to be "too far away" though, for the venue is smaller than the theatre in my hometown of 15,000 people! The pamphlet was definitely worth the 2000 yen paid... it has a lovely cover design, the paper is very good quality, beautiful images, and even a dictionary of key foreign words used in the script.
There was no special guest at our show. As far as I know, out of NEWS, only Massu has been to see the show, so hopefully someone else (KOYAMA!!) will go either tonight, or tomorrow (the last day of Tokyo performances).