Apr. 22, 1997 (a)

May 27, 1997 (a)

Column Index - May 20, 1997

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"SHIP IN A VIEW" Location: Ginza Saison Theatre Period: Apr. 21 - 27, 1997 Information: Ginza Saison Theatre Tel.03-3535-0555 "SHIP IN A VIEW" (in Japanese) http://www.saison.co.jp/ ticket/HALLGUIDE/SAISON/ PAPA/papa.html Ginza Saison Theatre (in Japanese) http://www.saison.co.jp/ ticket/HALLGUIDE/SAISON/ theater.html Post-colonialism and Colonialism That Meet and Pass Each Other - "KusaMeikyu", the Japan-Hong Kong Dance Theatre Collaboration by Pappa Tarahumara and Zuni Icosahedron - Hidenaga OOTORI Art Watch - Nov. 5, 1996

The Regressive Pappa TARAHUMARA - Review of "SHIP IN A VIEW", a new stage performance Takaaki KUMAKURA Confined in an aesthetic, existential narcissism The performance was all too regressive. Dancers in sepia costumes, a string of smoke wavering in between them, antique furniture, a bicycle, the rumbling sound of the sea sweetly surrounding them, and the howling of a dog...(the stage) was simply a "cliche" of "memories" and "nostalgia". The director, Hiroshi KOIKE, says in the production program, "'SHIP IN A VIEW' originates from my personal memories. Because before, I had avoided creating a stage performance based on my own personal experience, this 'SHIP IN A VIEW' can be interpreted as an attempt for a new discovery of myself." It may be true that this performance was "a new discovery" for KOIKE himself. However, such a "discovery" (if there is one) means nothing except to himself. There is only aesthetic, existential narcissism, but almost no opportunity for an encouter with the "history" of others gained by breaking through the memory of an "individual". In the second part, the mood changed totally, with performers in futuristic metal-colored costumes, dancing in a fantastical space illuminated by stars. On the sides of the stage were the figure of a man whose face was a TV monitor, and another female figure wearing large earrings on a spinning head. Is this beautiful but nonsensical space the "future" for KOIKE? What can come after the fatigue of "post-modernism" ? In "SHIP IN A VIEW", both the "past" and the "future" were contained in a "world of imagination", which was nothing more than a personal and stereotyped world. However, is realistic time or "history" merely like that? (Needless to say,) does not something that falls away from a stereotyped nostalgia form the reality in "history"? Also, is not the "future" also generated every moment, materialistically and ideologically, in a place that is unrelated to a symbolic fantasia? This production did not have a "breakdown". Other than the sporadic strength emanated by the performers, Mariko OGAWA and Makoto MATSUSHIMA, there was no breakdown in the performance that would have led on to a "realistic thing". After the fatigue from the "post modernism" influenced by the consumer society, is the regression towards such aesthetic/existential naricissism the only thing that the Japanese artists can do? I feel that that should not be so. [Takaaki KUMAKURA/French Literature, Modern Art]

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Apr. 22, 1997 (a)

May 27, 1997 (a)