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A high-voltage Japanese underground musical based on Threepenny Opera. A dead girl loving a living boy adventures between two worlds - the dead and the living! The play's creator, Shuji Terayama once said, “Humans are incomplete cadavers”, and this work is heavily tinged with this sentiment. It's a thought-provoking meditation on how we view death and life. Ryuzanji Company toured Hanafuda Denki in 2012, receiving an Overall Excellence Award for Design at the New York International Fringe Festival and a Pick of the Fringe award at the Victoria Fringe Festival. Ryuzanji Company is a world famous Tokyo underground theatre company that has performed in 33 cities worldwide, including Cairo, Seoul, Taipei, Moscow, and Toronto. Hanafuda Denki was so well-received during its 2012 Fringe tour that Ryuzanji has brought it back for a special run with five shows at Montreal's Infinitheatre January 14 to 18, and seven shows at HERE in New York City January 21 to 26. |
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Cosponsored by
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The
play is set in the Taisho Period (1912-1926) at a funeral parlour in downtown Tokyo. The funeral parlour is called
the
House of the Dead, and the family of the master are all said
to be dead. But the only daughter of the master, Karuta falls
in love with a living guy named Kitaro of the Graveyard (what
an irony that a living man’s name is Kitaro of the
Graveyard!) Falling in love with a living man means violating
a taboo and it becomes a big issue in the family. Danjuro, the
undertaker schemes to have his daughter Karuta seduced by
a
beautiful dead boy and tries to send her off to the world of
the dead. Now three-sided, or even four-sided chasing starts,
chasing one another over the world of the dead to the land of
the living.
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Shuji Terayama |
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When asked his main occupation, his typical response was to say, “My job is Shuji Terayama.” He first visited America in 1968, where he met such leaders of the underground theatre scene as Ellen Stewart (La Mama E.T.C.) and Julian Beck (The Living Theatre). In 1980, he put on Directions to Servants at La MaMa (Show Ryuzanji also participated in this tour). When he died at the age of 47, on May 5, 1983, his obituary was published in the New York Times, and Ellen Stewart held a memorial service at La Mama. |
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“Performed with full-tilt commitment and unusual discipline… rowdy, propulsive energy that almost never flags.” – New York Times / “It's Cirque Surreal!!” – Plank Magazine / “If this is hell, sign me up. Heck, I'll even become fluent in Japanese.” – nytheatre.com / “You might ponder the point at first, but stick with the show: A piercing revelation at the climax will haunt you on your way out.” – Time Out New York / “Thus far, Hanafuda Denki blew my mind on the levels of creativity, theatricality, humour, talent and pure delight.” – CiTR Radio
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RYUZANJI COMPANY, Tokyo, Japan |
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