"Strangers on a train" - stageplay report
I watched the stageplay on July 23rd (14:00). Please forgive any grammatical mistakes and also mistakes in the content of the stageplay.
The theatre this time is very very small, about 700 seats. I think they didn't use microphones at all but everything can be heard perfectly. For those who read my Green Fingers report, the size of this theatre is much smaller compared to Green Fingers one. The stage is 360 degrees rotating for set-changing as well, but the background and properties of each set keeps being modified because I think Strangers on a Train involves more places (Green Fingers story was mainly located inside the jail, so there were only several sets). There's no live music for Strangers on a Train. Also, there were really a lot of fast conversations. Most scenes were rich with dialogues.
If you want to know the story in detail, probably it's better for you to read the novel. I haven't read the novel and I haven't watched the movie either, but I'll try my best in describing the plot in the stageplay.
After the curtain was raised, there are images of trains projected on the stage, and the sound of moving trains can be heard. The stage rotated and the set showed the inside of a train. There were 2 men sitting. One of them was deep asleep and his head almost fell into the shoulder of the man beside him. There, the relationship between Bruno and Guy started. The sleeping man was Bruno. He wore white suit, also with a hat, which made me unsure whether it was really Nino or not when he first appeared xD But then it's all clear when Bruno started the conversation ^^ The other one is Guy Haines. He wore grey suit. Bruno talked very fast and keep approaching Guy, while Guy seem to be annoyed by Bruno. At first their conversation was casual, like what their profession, which city they live in, about the apple and grape wine bottle that Bruno boasted, etc. When Guy said that he wanted to read his book privately at the dinner compartment, Bruno forced him to have a meal and talk in his private compartment. At first Guy declined and insisted in going to the common dinner compartment, but the train attendant said that it's full, so he ended up in Bruno's compartment.
The set changed. Bruno's private compartment had a set of table with sofas on either side. There were several large suitcases inside, and also a golf bag behind one of the sofa. On the table there were a lot of empty alcohol bottles. Bruno and Guy came in and put off their hats and coats. Bruno ordered meal and some alcohol to the train attendant. Funnily, what he ordered were hamburgers (Arashi fans' inside joke, huh? xD). In this scene, the conversation gradually became serious. And they talked while drinking alcohol, so gradually even Guy became more talkative as well. They talked about the people around them; their family; starting from mom, and dad... Here Bruno said something about hating his dad and wanting to kill him. Seems like Bruno had a list of things he had to do in his life. After completing the list one by one, including the murder, he wanted to do suicide. He wanted to be killed by the one he detests the most. Then Bruno also found out that Guy hates his current wife the most. Seems like his wife was going out with his best friend or something. He wanted to divorce, and he wanted to be with the woman he loves. However his wife is unwilling to be divorced.
And here, Guy proposed the "exchange murder" plan. "Strangers on a train" killed each other's most-hated person, so that there would be no proof to point out that they were the criminals, as they got no relationship with each other's most-hated person. However, even in his half-drunk state, Guy completely rejected the plan and didn't agree with any form of murder. He got annoyed and wanted to leave the compartment. However Bruno had hidden Guy's book (which was slipped on the back of his pants), so Guy had to go around the compartment searching for his book while keep rejecting Bruno's crazy plan. Finally he gave up about the book anyway and left the compartment. After saying "please come here again to greet me", Bruno was left alone staring down at Guy's book.
The set changed. Guy was wearing a dark-colored long coat and a hat, standing on a staircase. Then Miriam came in and they started arguing about their divorce. Miriam didn't want to divorce because the father of the baby inside her stomach was already married, so she didn't need to divorce from Guy. Guy intended to move to another city, and Miriam even insisted to follow him. It was a long argument, even involving the talk about Guy's job and also Guy's girlfriend Anne. Without any clear conclusion, the two went on separated ways. By the way, Miriam's appearance and costume was quite cute. The costume is normal-looking (unlike Anne who usually wore classy and rich-looking costume) but her costumes were always look cute.
The set changed. Now it showed a bedroom, with a large bed, a desk-chair set with a phone and a mirror, a music-player, and a door on the back. Bruno's mom came in first. She wore white dress which is very luxurious-looking. Bruno came in later wearing black sleeping gown, with his chest visible slightly to the audience *perverted thoughts xD*. This is mainly a scene that introduced the relationship between Bruno and his mom to the audience. Also, how and why Bruno hated his dad, although his mom kept saying that he shouldn't have such intention to his own dad. It was shown that there was a romantic relationship between Bruno and his mom. They kissed, they also danced together. Bruno's mom always called Bruno by the name "Charlie" or "Darling" or "Honey". Seems like Bruno has never fallen in love with anyone, or rather, he has never held any interest in any other person in his life other than his own mom.
After Bruno's mom left the room, Bruno was really annoyed about something. I think it was probably his possessive feeling toward his mom? He really wanted to kill his dad as soon as possible. Bruno sat and opened Guy's book which laid on the desk and got Guy's contact number. He called to press the "exchange murder" matter.
The set changed. The projector showed images of road full of cars. In the middle of the stage, there was the front part of car, with An driving and Guy sitting beside her. The main topic of their conversation was about the situation with Miriam. The point was Guy saying a sentence "I want to strangle her to death". An seemed like a level-headed person, she kept telling him to enjoy the period when they will be together at An's place.
The set changed. Umm... here I'm kinda not sure about the order of events. Basically here Bruno gradually tried to gather information about Miriam, like where she was living and such. He ordered train ticket and departed to the town. There were some set-changing. Bruno was also practicing the things he would say when he meet Miriam. He planned to visit Miriam's house and said something like "I have a message from Guy. It's very private so won't you let me into your house?".
When Bruno arrived in front of Miriam's house, Miriam wasn't home. From a letter that Miriam wrote to a guy, Bruno found out that she was currently going out to an amusement park. Bruno also went to the amusement park.
The set changed to that of amusement park. A music like those played in amusement park were played loudly, and the projector showed images of ferris wheel and various lights like those in amusement park. On the stage there is a merry-go-round ride which revolved around. Miriam was with a guy, and they rode the merry-go-round. Bruno followed them and rode the horse behind the one that was ridden by Miriam. Here Miriam's attention was totally into Bruno and they had casual conversation. Then Miriam and the guy went away from the merry-go-round and enter a quite dark set. They were talking about riding a boat. The guy left Miriam alone to arrange it. Then a light at the back of the set appeared and it surprised Miriam. It was Bruno. Miriam was like "Ah, it was the guy from earlier!". Then Bruno said "I have a message from Guy" and approached to kill her. Miriam was knocked to the ground and Bruno was on top of her and strangled her neck. After some time Bruno was about to leave but Miriam still had her breath. Bruno realized it and went back to strangle her again, this time until she completely died. Bruno left the set. Miriam's guy came in and shocked to see Miriam laying dead. There were sounds of policecars coming.
The set changed. Bruno arrived on a bus stop and sat. There was an old man sitting on the bench and they had casual conversation. The man was asking about the red stain on Bruno's hand, but he was making some excuses I forgot.
The set changed. It was like a luxury garden on a rich person's house. Anne and Guy were there, and they were starting to kissing each other fiercely. Then the phone rang. It was from Guy's mom, informing him that Miriam was murdered. Guy was called to the police. When Anne left to pick up his stuff, Guy started having illusions of Bruno. (The sign of Guy's illusions is that Nino will appear on the stage and say some mean stuff, but only Guy can see and hear him. It was usually shown that other casts completely unaware of Nino's presence on the stage).
The set changed. It was an office inside the police station. Guy was asked about Miriam's murder. No one saw Guy in the town where Miriam was living at the time of the murder. Guy was kinda reminded of Guy, but he tried to not believe his own feeling that it was Bruno who killed Miriam. And thereupon, there was a package for Guy that was sent to the police. Guy opened the package when the policemen weren't in the room. Inside, there was a belt and a letter. The letter was from Bruno, saying that he won't return the book so he gave this belt, and also something like "I did it. Do you understand what it means? Next it's your turn". By the way, when Guy reading the letter, it was Nino's voice that was heard by the audience, reading out the content of the letter.
The set changed. It was a hotel room. Bruno was on top of a bed with a lot of newspaper cutting about Miriam's murder. He wore the sleeping gown, but unfortunately inside the gown he wore a suit (for the next scene, I guess). His mom came in and I think he was trying to boast about it, talking about Miriam who was his friend Guy's wife and such. However it seemed like his mom didn't really have any interest in it. It feels like... starting from here, bit by bit a distance appeared between Bruno and his mom.
Bruno also received a letter from Guy as a reply. It said something like "Dear my beloved Charles, I can't comprehend your letter. I also don't understand your interest in me." Bruno realized that Guy has become succeed in life after his wife's death, and he thought that his father also go away he'll have a better life.
The set changed. It was like a press conference, with Guy, Anne and an interviewer sitting facing the left side, and some audiences and press sitting facing them. It was about how Guy's architecture project was succeed. Seems like the project was previously disturbed by Guy's wife, Miriam. Right on the very back of the press, there was a man wearing white suit and white hat sitting. It was Nino. Whenever the interviewer asked a question to Guy, Guy would answer to the microphone that the interviewer held out to him, however we (the stageplay audience) can't hear any words Guy said or even the voices of the crowd. Instead, Nino/Bruno would stand and face us, and answer the question as if it was him who was being interviewed, and that's the only voice we heard. I completely forgot all the questions and answers, but they were something like "How do you feel?" or "What are you planning next?" etc.
The set changed. It was Guy's room. The room didn't look too good. It has this shabby and dark aura. It seems that Guy was going crazy because Bruno kept pestering him with hundreds of mails and contacts so that Guy would do his part in killing Bruno's dad. Guy was wearing white tank top, looking both scared and stressed out. I only vaguely remember this part, but if I'm not mistaken, here Guy received a package, of which content is a gun. Surely it was sent by Bruno. Then Bruno appeared in the room. I think, at the end of the scene, Guy was telling Charlie the location where he put away the gun. It's inside the drawer, the lowest one.
Bruno was getting impatience with Guy. Bruno said to Guy that he'll tell Anne and Guy's office about the "exchange murder" plan if Guy hasn't murdered his dad by this Friday. Bruno also handed the map of his home and the detailed murder plan to Guy. Guy got more and more stressed as Bruno's mails and phone calls kept increasing to the extreme.
There was a phone call from Anne to Guy's place. Anne said that there was a letter sent to her, saying that Guy has something to do with Miriam's murder. I think I forgot something here, because I remembered that Bruno also sent something similar to other person. I think it was Guy's friend or something, because before Anne's call, there was a guy who visited the stressed Guy in his room. I also remember that Guy said something like "You as well??" when Anne called.
The set changed. This one is new, it's upstairs, located on top of one of the set on the rotating stage. There was a bed on the set. Bruno was doing preparation to leave the town to make an alibi for himself. Bruno's mom climb upstairs and came in, asking where he'd go to. Bruno answered that he's just away for the weekend. What I remember the most from this scene is Bruno laying his head on his mom's lap (just like on the pamphlet), and it brought back Bruno mom's memories about when he was still a kid. Bruno's mom also said something like "You have met someone", indicating that she felt that he had met someone he had interest in. The end was Bruno saying something like "just for the weekend". Bruno left the house while Bruno's mom was still laying on the bed, humming a nostalgic song...
The set changed. Bruno appeared in Guy's room. He said that if Guy kills his dad, he won't pester him anymore, won't haunt him anymore. With this, Guy made the final decision.
The set changed. It was the stair inside Bruno's house. Guy was holding a gun and proceed bit by bit upstairs. In the background, we can hear Bruno's mom still humming the song, while Bruno's dad seemed to be sleeping. While Guy kept proceeding upstairs, we can also hear Bruno's voice in the background reciting the detailed murder plan and the location of his dad's room. For example, the voice was saying something like "I have broken the window's key and put a stand below it. For safety, I handed you the key to the backdoor as well. Near the landing of the stairs, there is buttler's room. If you walk pass it, the floor will creak, so walk in rhythm with the tickling of the clock. Things will be alright. If you read this map, you would feel like you have been in my house several times, Guy". The scene ended with the sound of a gun, and Bruno's mom humming also stopped.
Here the first session of the stageplay ended. It was around 80 minutes. There was 20 minutes break, and the second session began. The second session was around 50 minutes. It was much much darker than the scenes I have written in previous paragraphs, and my mood was also greatly affected that I remember less and less details. Most of the time, I only remembered that Bruno drank alcohol a lot, but he was greatly in love with Guy. The rest of it was a really sad mood hanging over me...
The first scene of the second session is at the office in the police station. Detective Arthur called Bruno for interrogation. The detective was wearing white tank top and was doing push-ups. He questioned Bruno while wearing his suit. He seemed like a very clever person and knew Bruno family well. He also sensed there is something wrong. He suspected that Bruno purposely left the town at the time of the murder. However Bruno was clever in speaking out his excuses as well. (I remember that one of his excuses was that he was having meals at a hamburger restaurant xD)
The detective also visited Bruno's house to question Bruno's mom, who was falling sick. Seems like Bruno's mom loved Bruno's father after all. I think Bruno's father is a man that was liked by the people around, a succeed man.
While they were talking, Bruno eavesdropped on the door. I forgot most of their conversation, although I remember the detective asked whether Bruno has said anything to her. She answered that she hasn't asked anything. However, she also added that she will contact the detective if Bruno tells her anything, even promising for sure that she'll contact him. With this, Bruno who was eavesdropping has concluded that his mom betrayed him.
The set changed to Guy who was sitting in his room. He looked as awful as ever. Anne came in, and asked why he hadn't showed up at his workplace, and he didn't even pick up the phone. She was very worried about him. "Is there anything you hide from me?"; "You must have gotten into a fight at the very least, right?"; "Does this have anything to do with the previous letter?". Then Guy answered that there is a colleague who is jealous of his success, so he sent letters to An and other coworkers so that Guy would be hated. He said that he got into a fight with him the previous day. With that, Anne understood and went home. But to me it seemed like Anne also realized that there's something else, like something is changing inside Guy.
After Anne left, someone like a vagrant wearing a coat and a hood appeared from Guy's wardrobe/drawer/whatever and slowly approaching him. It was Nino/Bruno. Guy asked "Who are you!" and the hooded one answered "I am you". Charlie got shocked and pinned the hooded Nino down, but if I remember correctly, Nino was laughing.
The set changed. Now it's Guy and Anne's wedding. There were several random guests around, but then Bruno came to the wedding! He looked a bit drunk from the start, and I think he was holding alcohol the whole time as well. Guy got mad and protested that Bruno had promised that he won't appear in front of him again. However, Bruno didn't leave, and he even introduced himself to Anne as one of Guy's friend, that they met at their university's Christmas party. Then Guy argued again with the drunken Bruno (still in the middle of his wedding party!) while Anne and the other guests were doing cheers. I think Guy was arguing about how people will know that Bruno and Guy related to each other so that they might be suspected for the murder.
The set changed. This time it's the detective Arthur's office again. He called Bruno and Guy consecutively to ask about how they know each other which was answered with the standard "christmas party" lie, also about how in just 6 months before the murder of Bruno's dad, Guy's wife was murdered. The detective also pressed Guy about their real first meeting and the apple and grape wine bottle, that they probably met inside a train.
The set changed. Guy called Bruno to talk about the interrogation with the detective. Bruno looked very very happy (and looked drunk too) receiving a call from Guy. However, ignoring Guy who pressed Bruno about the danger of being found out, Bruno was happily saying to Guy "Hey, can I meet you?". In a very gentle voice, Bruno said "If I don't meet you, I get lonely and afraid". Bruno said that he'll wait for Guy at the bar.
The set changed to that of a bar. Bruno was waiting on one of the table. Guy came and they drank together. Bruno welcomed him with a very happy face, but Guy looked angry. Bruno said "We're friends, right? Don't you like me?" in a way similar to a child speaking. Guy answered "This is extremely strange, but I like you"
Bruno accidentally spilled his drink, saying "Ah, I spilled it", but Guy said "I'll wipe it" and he gently wiped Bruno's mouth. But then he changed his attitude and saying harsh words "What the heck was I doing?? Don't touch me!!" and he left. Hereupon Bruno stood and said "No matter how many years will pass, I'll be waiting for you."
Bruno felt like he was being thrown away, and he shouted something like "Why did this happen to me... Mama! Mama! Mama~!!!". It felt so sad...
Meanwhile, the detective was already able to conclude how Bruno and Guy first met and also about the exchange murder. Both Bruno and Guy can't deny, but the detective's reasoning also lack of proof so that he can't to anything yet.
Bruno was drinking alcohol so much and was so lost that it seemed like he couldn't see the reality. Here, he kept calling Guy's name over and over. His mom, who already kept worrying about him and complained about the amount of alcohol he drank, finally gave up. She said "I can't be beside you anymore. You really need help". And she left. Bruno kept shouting "Mama~ Mama~". "Mother, please don't leave me alone. Mama!!"
The set changed. It was Guy's house. Because there was no proof, Guy was still living his normal life. If I remember correctly, Guy and Anne was still talking about how the design for their house was still not completed yet. Guy's old friend (probably the same one as the one who came to his room before he did the murder) was there as well, talking with them.
Thereupon, Bruno came visiting Guy's house. But he looked even weirder and more awful than before. Not only he looked drunk, his way of speaking changed and he kept stumbling down while walking. Anne was a nice person, so she let him into the house, but Guy was being cold. He didn't welcome the handshake that Bruno offered. Without caring about it, Bruno continued talking and talking. He even said "I rode the merry-go-round~" and started talking about the day he did the murder. There Guy got angry and shouted "Will you knock it off!!". But Bruno was still strange, saying things like "I wanted to meet you...", and Guy kept being angry "Will you knock it off!? Won't you understand if I don't put it in words???". There, Bruno mumbled "You said it was inside the drawer, the most bottom one, right?" (referring to the gun). Then he pulled out the most bottom drawer and took the gun. Everyone around were shocked and scared. Bruno said "We are gods! Let's show everyone!". Guy started to wrestle Bruno for the gun. Here, the background music suddenly becomes the same tone as in the merry-go-round set. In the middle of the wrestling, it stopped with a bang from the gun. Then Bruno's voice could be heard "Thank you... Guy...". Bruno fell to the ground, and Guy kept shaking him and calling his name "Oi, Bruno? Bruno? Please don't go!!". But Bruno was already dead. Then he kissed Bruno. The light at the stage darkened and the sound of policecar was heard.
The stage lightened up at once, and Bruno was laying on the floor, but his face was already covered by cloth. The detective was already there as well. Guy admitted his crime. There, he remembered what Bruno said when they first met, about how he would die by suicide, and also put the blame on the person he hated the most. The detective said, "But wasn't Bruno in love with you?". Guy stared right into the detective's eyes and said "I know." Guy said that Bruno always said that he's the one that understood Guy the most. But right now, it's the opposite. Guy said that now he's the one that understand Bruno the most.
Then Guy put out both of his arms to the detective, as if asking to be arrested, saying "Please, go ahead". And with that, the stageplay ended.
There were 4 curtain calls. I already heard from the people who attended the first-day performance that there were 4 curtain calls, so I kept clapping my hands everytime the casts left the stage after greeting the audience. Seems like other people also know that, because they also kept clapping their hands until the fourth curtain call ended xD
Ok that's it. Phew, that was several hours used up to remember things and write the report xD
The theatre this time is very very small, about 700 seats. I think they didn't use microphones at all but everything can be heard perfectly. For those who read my Green Fingers report, the size of this theatre is much smaller compared to Green Fingers one. The stage is 360 degrees rotating for set-changing as well, but the background and properties of each set keeps being modified because I think Strangers on a Train involves more places (Green Fingers story was mainly located inside the jail, so there were only several sets). There's no live music for Strangers on a Train. Also, there were really a lot of fast conversations. Most scenes were rich with dialogues.
If you want to know the story in detail, probably it's better for you to read the novel. I haven't read the novel and I haven't watched the movie either, but I'll try my best in describing the plot in the stageplay.
After the curtain was raised, there are images of trains projected on the stage, and the sound of moving trains can be heard. The stage rotated and the set showed the inside of a train. There were 2 men sitting. One of them was deep asleep and his head almost fell into the shoulder of the man beside him. There, the relationship between Bruno and Guy started. The sleeping man was Bruno. He wore white suit, also with a hat, which made me unsure whether it was really Nino or not when he first appeared xD But then it's all clear when Bruno started the conversation ^^ The other one is Guy Haines. He wore grey suit. Bruno talked very fast and keep approaching Guy, while Guy seem to be annoyed by Bruno. At first their conversation was casual, like what their profession, which city they live in, about the apple and grape wine bottle that Bruno boasted, etc. When Guy said that he wanted to read his book privately at the dinner compartment, Bruno forced him to have a meal and talk in his private compartment. At first Guy declined and insisted in going to the common dinner compartment, but the train attendant said that it's full, so he ended up in Bruno's compartment.
The set changed. Bruno's private compartment had a set of table with sofas on either side. There were several large suitcases inside, and also a golf bag behind one of the sofa. On the table there were a lot of empty alcohol bottles. Bruno and Guy came in and put off their hats and coats. Bruno ordered meal and some alcohol to the train attendant. Funnily, what he ordered were hamburgers (Arashi fans' inside joke, huh? xD). In this scene, the conversation gradually became serious. And they talked while drinking alcohol, so gradually even Guy became more talkative as well. They talked about the people around them; their family; starting from mom, and dad... Here Bruno said something about hating his dad and wanting to kill him. Seems like Bruno had a list of things he had to do in his life. After completing the list one by one, including the murder, he wanted to do suicide. He wanted to be killed by the one he detests the most. Then Bruno also found out that Guy hates his current wife the most. Seems like his wife was going out with his best friend or something. He wanted to divorce, and he wanted to be with the woman he loves. However his wife is unwilling to be divorced.
And here, Guy proposed the "exchange murder" plan. "Strangers on a train" killed each other's most-hated person, so that there would be no proof to point out that they were the criminals, as they got no relationship with each other's most-hated person. However, even in his half-drunk state, Guy completely rejected the plan and didn't agree with any form of murder. He got annoyed and wanted to leave the compartment. However Bruno had hidden Guy's book (which was slipped on the back of his pants), so Guy had to go around the compartment searching for his book while keep rejecting Bruno's crazy plan. Finally he gave up about the book anyway and left the compartment. After saying "please come here again to greet me", Bruno was left alone staring down at Guy's book.
The set changed. Guy was wearing a dark-colored long coat and a hat, standing on a staircase. Then Miriam came in and they started arguing about their divorce. Miriam didn't want to divorce because the father of the baby inside her stomach was already married, so she didn't need to divorce from Guy. Guy intended to move to another city, and Miriam even insisted to follow him. It was a long argument, even involving the talk about Guy's job and also Guy's girlfriend Anne. Without any clear conclusion, the two went on separated ways. By the way, Miriam's appearance and costume was quite cute. The costume is normal-looking (unlike Anne who usually wore classy and rich-looking costume) but her costumes were always look cute.
The set changed. Now it showed a bedroom, with a large bed, a desk-chair set with a phone and a mirror, a music-player, and a door on the back. Bruno's mom came in first. She wore white dress which is very luxurious-looking. Bruno came in later wearing black sleeping gown, with his chest visible slightly to the audience *perverted thoughts xD*. This is mainly a scene that introduced the relationship between Bruno and his mom to the audience. Also, how and why Bruno hated his dad, although his mom kept saying that he shouldn't have such intention to his own dad. It was shown that there was a romantic relationship between Bruno and his mom. They kissed, they also danced together. Bruno's mom always called Bruno by the name "Charlie" or "Darling" or "Honey". Seems like Bruno has never fallen in love with anyone, or rather, he has never held any interest in any other person in his life other than his own mom.
After Bruno's mom left the room, Bruno was really annoyed about something. I think it was probably his possessive feeling toward his mom? He really wanted to kill his dad as soon as possible. Bruno sat and opened Guy's book which laid on the desk and got Guy's contact number. He called to press the "exchange murder" matter.
The set changed. The projector showed images of road full of cars. In the middle of the stage, there was the front part of car, with An driving and Guy sitting beside her. The main topic of their conversation was about the situation with Miriam. The point was Guy saying a sentence "I want to strangle her to death". An seemed like a level-headed person, she kept telling him to enjoy the period when they will be together at An's place.
The set changed. Umm... here I'm kinda not sure about the order of events. Basically here Bruno gradually tried to gather information about Miriam, like where she was living and such. He ordered train ticket and departed to the town. There were some set-changing. Bruno was also practicing the things he would say when he meet Miriam. He planned to visit Miriam's house and said something like "I have a message from Guy. It's very private so won't you let me into your house?".
When Bruno arrived in front of Miriam's house, Miriam wasn't home. From a letter that Miriam wrote to a guy, Bruno found out that she was currently going out to an amusement park. Bruno also went to the amusement park.
The set changed to that of amusement park. A music like those played in amusement park were played loudly, and the projector showed images of ferris wheel and various lights like those in amusement park. On the stage there is a merry-go-round ride which revolved around. Miriam was with a guy, and they rode the merry-go-round. Bruno followed them and rode the horse behind the one that was ridden by Miriam. Here Miriam's attention was totally into Bruno and they had casual conversation. Then Miriam and the guy went away from the merry-go-round and enter a quite dark set. They were talking about riding a boat. The guy left Miriam alone to arrange it. Then a light at the back of the set appeared and it surprised Miriam. It was Bruno. Miriam was like "Ah, it was the guy from earlier!". Then Bruno said "I have a message from Guy" and approached to kill her. Miriam was knocked to the ground and Bruno was on top of her and strangled her neck. After some time Bruno was about to leave but Miriam still had her breath. Bruno realized it and went back to strangle her again, this time until she completely died. Bruno left the set. Miriam's guy came in and shocked to see Miriam laying dead. There were sounds of policecars coming.
The set changed. Bruno arrived on a bus stop and sat. There was an old man sitting on the bench and they had casual conversation. The man was asking about the red stain on Bruno's hand, but he was making some excuses I forgot.
The set changed. It was like a luxury garden on a rich person's house. Anne and Guy were there, and they were starting to kissing each other fiercely. Then the phone rang. It was from Guy's mom, informing him that Miriam was murdered. Guy was called to the police. When Anne left to pick up his stuff, Guy started having illusions of Bruno. (The sign of Guy's illusions is that Nino will appear on the stage and say some mean stuff, but only Guy can see and hear him. It was usually shown that other casts completely unaware of Nino's presence on the stage).
The set changed. It was an office inside the police station. Guy was asked about Miriam's murder. No one saw Guy in the town where Miriam was living at the time of the murder. Guy was kinda reminded of Guy, but he tried to not believe his own feeling that it was Bruno who killed Miriam. And thereupon, there was a package for Guy that was sent to the police. Guy opened the package when the policemen weren't in the room. Inside, there was a belt and a letter. The letter was from Bruno, saying that he won't return the book so he gave this belt, and also something like "I did it. Do you understand what it means? Next it's your turn". By the way, when Guy reading the letter, it was Nino's voice that was heard by the audience, reading out the content of the letter.
The set changed. It was a hotel room. Bruno was on top of a bed with a lot of newspaper cutting about Miriam's murder. He wore the sleeping gown, but unfortunately inside the gown he wore a suit (for the next scene, I guess). His mom came in and I think he was trying to boast about it, talking about Miriam who was his friend Guy's wife and such. However it seemed like his mom didn't really have any interest in it. It feels like... starting from here, bit by bit a distance appeared between Bruno and his mom.
Bruno also received a letter from Guy as a reply. It said something like "Dear my beloved Charles, I can't comprehend your letter. I also don't understand your interest in me." Bruno realized that Guy has become succeed in life after his wife's death, and he thought that his father also go away he'll have a better life.
The set changed. It was like a press conference, with Guy, Anne and an interviewer sitting facing the left side, and some audiences and press sitting facing them. It was about how Guy's architecture project was succeed. Seems like the project was previously disturbed by Guy's wife, Miriam. Right on the very back of the press, there was a man wearing white suit and white hat sitting. It was Nino. Whenever the interviewer asked a question to Guy, Guy would answer to the microphone that the interviewer held out to him, however we (the stageplay audience) can't hear any words Guy said or even the voices of the crowd. Instead, Nino/Bruno would stand and face us, and answer the question as if it was him who was being interviewed, and that's the only voice we heard. I completely forgot all the questions and answers, but they were something like "How do you feel?" or "What are you planning next?" etc.
The set changed. It was Guy's room. The room didn't look too good. It has this shabby and dark aura. It seems that Guy was going crazy because Bruno kept pestering him with hundreds of mails and contacts so that Guy would do his part in killing Bruno's dad. Guy was wearing white tank top, looking both scared and stressed out. I only vaguely remember this part, but if I'm not mistaken, here Guy received a package, of which content is a gun. Surely it was sent by Bruno. Then Bruno appeared in the room. I think, at the end of the scene, Guy was telling Charlie the location where he put away the gun. It's inside the drawer, the lowest one.
Bruno was getting impatience with Guy. Bruno said to Guy that he'll tell Anne and Guy's office about the "exchange murder" plan if Guy hasn't murdered his dad by this Friday. Bruno also handed the map of his home and the detailed murder plan to Guy. Guy got more and more stressed as Bruno's mails and phone calls kept increasing to the extreme.
There was a phone call from Anne to Guy's place. Anne said that there was a letter sent to her, saying that Guy has something to do with Miriam's murder. I think I forgot something here, because I remembered that Bruno also sent something similar to other person. I think it was Guy's friend or something, because before Anne's call, there was a guy who visited the stressed Guy in his room. I also remember that Guy said something like "You as well??" when Anne called.
The set changed. This one is new, it's upstairs, located on top of one of the set on the rotating stage. There was a bed on the set. Bruno was doing preparation to leave the town to make an alibi for himself. Bruno's mom climb upstairs and came in, asking where he'd go to. Bruno answered that he's just away for the weekend. What I remember the most from this scene is Bruno laying his head on his mom's lap (just like on the pamphlet), and it brought back Bruno mom's memories about when he was still a kid. Bruno's mom also said something like "You have met someone", indicating that she felt that he had met someone he had interest in. The end was Bruno saying something like "just for the weekend". Bruno left the house while Bruno's mom was still laying on the bed, humming a nostalgic song...
The set changed. Bruno appeared in Guy's room. He said that if Guy kills his dad, he won't pester him anymore, won't haunt him anymore. With this, Guy made the final decision.
The set changed. It was the stair inside Bruno's house. Guy was holding a gun and proceed bit by bit upstairs. In the background, we can hear Bruno's mom still humming the song, while Bruno's dad seemed to be sleeping. While Guy kept proceeding upstairs, we can also hear Bruno's voice in the background reciting the detailed murder plan and the location of his dad's room. For example, the voice was saying something like "I have broken the window's key and put a stand below it. For safety, I handed you the key to the backdoor as well. Near the landing of the stairs, there is buttler's room. If you walk pass it, the floor will creak, so walk in rhythm with the tickling of the clock. Things will be alright. If you read this map, you would feel like you have been in my house several times, Guy". The scene ended with the sound of a gun, and Bruno's mom humming also stopped.
Here the first session of the stageplay ended. It was around 80 minutes. There was 20 minutes break, and the second session began. The second session was around 50 minutes. It was much much darker than the scenes I have written in previous paragraphs, and my mood was also greatly affected that I remember less and less details. Most of the time, I only remembered that Bruno drank alcohol a lot, but he was greatly in love with Guy. The rest of it was a really sad mood hanging over me...
The first scene of the second session is at the office in the police station. Detective Arthur called Bruno for interrogation. The detective was wearing white tank top and was doing push-ups. He questioned Bruno while wearing his suit. He seemed like a very clever person and knew Bruno family well. He also sensed there is something wrong. He suspected that Bruno purposely left the town at the time of the murder. However Bruno was clever in speaking out his excuses as well. (I remember that one of his excuses was that he was having meals at a hamburger restaurant xD)
The detective also visited Bruno's house to question Bruno's mom, who was falling sick. Seems like Bruno's mom loved Bruno's father after all. I think Bruno's father is a man that was liked by the people around, a succeed man.
While they were talking, Bruno eavesdropped on the door. I forgot most of their conversation, although I remember the detective asked whether Bruno has said anything to her. She answered that she hasn't asked anything. However, she also added that she will contact the detective if Bruno tells her anything, even promising for sure that she'll contact him. With this, Bruno who was eavesdropping has concluded that his mom betrayed him.
The set changed to Guy who was sitting in his room. He looked as awful as ever. Anne came in, and asked why he hadn't showed up at his workplace, and he didn't even pick up the phone. She was very worried about him. "Is there anything you hide from me?"; "You must have gotten into a fight at the very least, right?"; "Does this have anything to do with the previous letter?". Then Guy answered that there is a colleague who is jealous of his success, so he sent letters to An and other coworkers so that Guy would be hated. He said that he got into a fight with him the previous day. With that, Anne understood and went home. But to me it seemed like Anne also realized that there's something else, like something is changing inside Guy.
After Anne left, someone like a vagrant wearing a coat and a hood appeared from Guy's wardrobe/drawer/whatever and slowly approaching him. It was Nino/Bruno. Guy asked "Who are you!" and the hooded one answered "I am you". Charlie got shocked and pinned the hooded Nino down, but if I remember correctly, Nino was laughing.
The set changed. Now it's Guy and Anne's wedding. There were several random guests around, but then Bruno came to the wedding! He looked a bit drunk from the start, and I think he was holding alcohol the whole time as well. Guy got mad and protested that Bruno had promised that he won't appear in front of him again. However, Bruno didn't leave, and he even introduced himself to Anne as one of Guy's friend, that they met at their university's Christmas party. Then Guy argued again with the drunken Bruno (still in the middle of his wedding party!) while Anne and the other guests were doing cheers. I think Guy was arguing about how people will know that Bruno and Guy related to each other so that they might be suspected for the murder.
The set changed. This time it's the detective Arthur's office again. He called Bruno and Guy consecutively to ask about how they know each other which was answered with the standard "christmas party" lie, also about how in just 6 months before the murder of Bruno's dad, Guy's wife was murdered. The detective also pressed Guy about their real first meeting and the apple and grape wine bottle, that they probably met inside a train.
The set changed. Guy called Bruno to talk about the interrogation with the detective. Bruno looked very very happy (and looked drunk too) receiving a call from Guy. However, ignoring Guy who pressed Bruno about the danger of being found out, Bruno was happily saying to Guy "Hey, can I meet you?". In a very gentle voice, Bruno said "If I don't meet you, I get lonely and afraid". Bruno said that he'll wait for Guy at the bar.
The set changed to that of a bar. Bruno was waiting on one of the table. Guy came and they drank together. Bruno welcomed him with a very happy face, but Guy looked angry. Bruno said "We're friends, right? Don't you like me?" in a way similar to a child speaking. Guy answered "This is extremely strange, but I like you"
Bruno accidentally spilled his drink, saying "Ah, I spilled it", but Guy said "I'll wipe it" and he gently wiped Bruno's mouth. But then he changed his attitude and saying harsh words "What the heck was I doing?? Don't touch me!!" and he left. Hereupon Bruno stood and said "No matter how many years will pass, I'll be waiting for you."
Bruno felt like he was being thrown away, and he shouted something like "Why did this happen to me... Mama! Mama! Mama~!!!". It felt so sad...
Meanwhile, the detective was already able to conclude how Bruno and Guy first met and also about the exchange murder. Both Bruno and Guy can't deny, but the detective's reasoning also lack of proof so that he can't to anything yet.
Bruno was drinking alcohol so much and was so lost that it seemed like he couldn't see the reality. Here, he kept calling Guy's name over and over. His mom, who already kept worrying about him and complained about the amount of alcohol he drank, finally gave up. She said "I can't be beside you anymore. You really need help". And she left. Bruno kept shouting "Mama~ Mama~". "Mother, please don't leave me alone. Mama!!"
The set changed. It was Guy's house. Because there was no proof, Guy was still living his normal life. If I remember correctly, Guy and Anne was still talking about how the design for their house was still not completed yet. Guy's old friend (probably the same one as the one who came to his room before he did the murder) was there as well, talking with them.
Thereupon, Bruno came visiting Guy's house. But he looked even weirder and more awful than before. Not only he looked drunk, his way of speaking changed and he kept stumbling down while walking. Anne was a nice person, so she let him into the house, but Guy was being cold. He didn't welcome the handshake that Bruno offered. Without caring about it, Bruno continued talking and talking. He even said "I rode the merry-go-round~" and started talking about the day he did the murder. There Guy got angry and shouted "Will you knock it off!!". But Bruno was still strange, saying things like "I wanted to meet you...", and Guy kept being angry "Will you knock it off!? Won't you understand if I don't put it in words???". There, Bruno mumbled "You said it was inside the drawer, the most bottom one, right?" (referring to the gun). Then he pulled out the most bottom drawer and took the gun. Everyone around were shocked and scared. Bruno said "We are gods! Let's show everyone!". Guy started to wrestle Bruno for the gun. Here, the background music suddenly becomes the same tone as in the merry-go-round set. In the middle of the wrestling, it stopped with a bang from the gun. Then Bruno's voice could be heard "Thank you... Guy...". Bruno fell to the ground, and Guy kept shaking him and calling his name "Oi, Bruno? Bruno? Please don't go!!". But Bruno was already dead. Then he kissed Bruno. The light at the stage darkened and the sound of policecar was heard.
The stage lightened up at once, and Bruno was laying on the floor, but his face was already covered by cloth. The detective was already there as well. Guy admitted his crime. There, he remembered what Bruno said when they first met, about how he would die by suicide, and also put the blame on the person he hated the most. The detective said, "But wasn't Bruno in love with you?". Guy stared right into the detective's eyes and said "I know." Guy said that Bruno always said that he's the one that understood Guy the most. But right now, it's the opposite. Guy said that now he's the one that understand Bruno the most.
Then Guy put out both of his arms to the detective, as if asking to be arrested, saying "Please, go ahead". And with that, the stageplay ended.
There were 4 curtain calls. I already heard from the people who attended the first-day performance that there were 4 curtain calls, so I kept clapping my hands everytime the casts left the stage after greeting the audience. Seems like other people also know that, because they also kept clapping their hands until the fourth curtain call ended xD
Ok that's it. Phew, that was several hours used up to remember things and write the report xD