RYUJI SAWA THE RETURN

november 6, 2007
theater for the new city

from every press release, you'll hear this: "Ryuji Sawa: The Return is a Japanese show incorporating dazzling elements of Japanese popular theater, including Kabuki dance, Taiko drumming, sword fighting, martial arts and instant costume changes."

this may give you an indication that this show is awesome, but it doesn't inform you of the true wonder of "ryuji sawa: the return." the show is stunning- beautiful, emotional, silly, melodramatic, confusing, shiny, and loaded with expert talents.

ryuji sawa: the return is a series of loose vignettes, held together in a dreamlike pseudonarrative by nothing other than the very presence of ryuji sawa, or, in some cases, his imagination. some are not true vignettes but rather are dance or song or talent (?) interludes that splice together the true vignettes, which borrow plot elements from Japanese history.

the “talent” portions are by far the most amazing to those of us who might describe ourselves as initiates to the japanese off-broadway scene. a 12-year old boy, ozora takami, described as a ”japanese fan dance prodigy” is absolutely amazing. his talents extend farther than “fan dance” and his fan dance is more impressive than i’ve ever seen. he also twirls katanas (fake?) and staffs in addition to his fan work. his fingers are nimble, his movements quick and calculated, all the twirls and flips perfectly practiced and executed in time to the music.

what i find sort of confusing is how this kid, obviously a celebrity in “traditional” j- culture, is whisked away to america to perform to a small crowd in the east village. i’m sure he’s much more in-demand in japan! and soon he’ll be too old to be a child prodigy or a national icon. i’d live those days up while i had ‘em, man, i wouldn’t travel to the other side of the world to be underappreciated. it also seems to me that it must be tough to do traveling show business with your life- particularly at such a young age. remember when you were twelve? yeah, middle school sucked. but at least you weren’t angsty (or teased by your schoolmates) while being billed as a child expert at traditional dance.

the other off-shore talent was two taiko drummers who performed in the style of old tokyo. they’re one of the top taiko groups in japan! and it was really really incredible. they shouted, they danced, they echoed back and forth between the drums without sacrificing the basic underlying rhythmic structure. the dynamics and timing were crucial and the spirit was really engaging.

(L-R): Ryuji Sawa and Ryoki Kiuchi
Courtesy of David Gibbs/DARR Publicity

the theatrical portions add in a generous amount of what other audients described as “1970s las vegas authentic glam”. it’s true, the effects were over the top (including disco balls and a fog machine) and all of ryuji sawa’s costumes were almost blindingly flashy. i was more impressed by the melodrama so thick you could eat it with a spoon. is this a feature of traditional japanese theater? i’m definitely going to have to do more research.

i was really impressed by how the audience was inherently involved in all the action. it really didn’t seem like there was a “fourth wall” at all—but rather that the acting was an extension of a conversation or explanatory dialogue. sawa frequently addressed the crowd during the highest emotional points- freezing and making faces before he stabbed an enemy, freezing and making faces when parted from his love interest, freezing and making faces as he gurgled and stumbled to a dramatic death.

all of the martial arts sequences which were so over-orchestrated that at one point i looked around for a conductor. it was exactly analogous to watching an esther williams synchronized swimming sequence... the practiced emotional responses, the tightly-regimented group movements, the confirmation of audience expectations about plot ups and downs. in this respect, i was amazed (rather than sickened as i sometimes can be by traditional american musicals.) there was little space on the stage, and the martial arts portions were dancelike and flowing, their campy aspects understood as part of the convention and not a hindrance to communication.

another thing i need to research is homosexuality in japanese culture- and what is the standard treatment for what americans would consider “homo” elements. americans obviously revile these elements as a standard treatment. (except for liberal educated new yorker elites, who welcome them in artistic mediums or for other creative endeavors.) the reason this occurred to me is that there were a number of important dramatic elements in the vignettes that would indicate homosexuality to american audiences. (luckily we were a few of the only judgemental whiteys in the mostly japanese and surprisingly elderly audience.) for example, all characters, but men especially, performed what the playbill described as “instant costume changes”. i think that there were some points where the costume change was not quick at all, and rather more akin to a strip tease. but, the hairy legs of japanese men are a turn-on not for me! for whom, then? other japanese men?

i think that the layers of clothing, of transparent material, and their transformative removal was a thematic element that united all the vignettes. sawa’s characters were frequently stunted by some emotion until he removed his outer garment and transcended the circumstance to defeat the bad guys in a bout of fantastic dance-fighting. you see what i mean about melodrama...

the presence of homoerotic symbolism was racheted up by the performance of takami, the fan dance child extraordinaire. in the opening scene of the production, takami is dancing around to traditional music in jeans, garbed as a boy. by the end of the song, he is made-up and costumed before our very eyes as a maiden geisha, demure and dancing to more modern japanese music. throughout the show he is on set alternately as a male or female character- essentially with no difference. i, however, read into his performances that he more enjoyed being the young warlord wielding a sword, and that his face was more rote and forced in his performance as a young geisha wielding a fan. true? hetero-american confirmation bias rearing its ugly head? my companion, also a caucasian american, added independently that he thought takami preferred his male roles.

(L-R): Ryuji Sawa & Mari Okamoto
Photographer: Hideyuki Tatebayashi

which brings us to gender roles. (you thought i could post a review without considering these?) i would like to better understand what the historical context of women in japanese culture. in most of the vignettes, they seemed to be merely just ancillary characters to sawa’s magnifique. he rescues them, he saves them, he must leave his weepy wife to go to fight, he must escape his ex-lover etc etc etc. women seem to function as no more than a impetus or excuse for sawa’s characters to fight. at one point, i was reminded of kurt russell’s character in deathproof, tarantino’s latest oeuvre. sawa’s posture, hair, occupation (fighting vis-a-vis being a car dude) and attitude toward women—all similar to russell, and all similarly upsetting during the bulk of the performance. (ok, subtract the ending off deathproof because i feel sort of like tarantino slapped that on there to mollify me personally.) sawa was the “big man” in almost every scene. is this misogyny typical for japan? or is it just a sawa thing? he was the most successful combinor of rockabilly and sword fighting so maybe he’s 1960s-nostalgic in slightly un-pc ways like david lynch. (perhaps i've already had this same sort of conversation about racist nostalgia and how that pervades all lynchian structural symbolism?) but, sawa also dresses in glammed-up kimono, does strip tease, and delicate fan dance as well? you can see why further research is required.

i don’t want to “spoil” the plot (or dreamlike psuedonarrative as i think of it) but you should go see this. if only for the kabuki “thriller” dance sequence and the incredible taiko drumming. and the glitzy costumes. and the marvelous martial artistry. and the child prodigy dancer.

(L-R): Ryuji Sawa
Courtesy of David Gibbs/DARR Publicity