Fringe educates with world vision @ Educating Mad Persons by Shuji Terayama, directed by Show Ryuzanji and _pro- duced by Ryuzanji_ & Company at the Arts Club Theatre. Martin Millerchip Arts Editer mumeillerchip@nsnews.com T really wanted to like Educating Mad Persons. After all, it’s plays like this that make the Vancouver Fringe Festival more than a showcase for every group of Part time actors and play- wrights that have a barn out back to rehearse in. That sounds like I'm knocking the Fringe, and Pm truly not. After some initial hesitation it has attracted Vancouver's best profession- als as well as the amateurs hoping for discovery. Even better, the Fringe is an opportunity to see theatre or theatrical performances (not necessarily the same thing) from other parts of the country and the world. Even if these companies are not the elite of other coun- try’s mainstream theatre, there is a fascination in observing how actors from elsewhere work — and it’s not always the same way. That’s not to say they are always, or necessarily, better. It’s just that Vancouver's theatre roots run shallow and Canada’s, as a whole, are not much deeper and only com- paratively recently are they becoming indigenous rather than derivative. So it is always interesting to be reminded that stage- craft elsewhere can be grounded in such things as: a more physical form of acting; political expression; a length- ier literary tradition; or folk- lore and unique cultural tra- ditions. “So, I really wanted to like Educating Mad Persons. The play was written by the late Shuji Terayama, one of Japan’s theatrical visionar- ies, poet, critic and founder *:. of the internationally famous .- troupe Tenjo Shajiki. * . Originally created for * puppets, the play has been adapted by Terayama’s pro- -Correstion Notice In our 8-2B Shopping is good flyer, Maxx New York leather tote on page 19 is $225 and is available in Vancouver, Queen Street, Bioor, and Montreal downtown. In our. 8-38 ToGo/Mantles flyer, Mantles merino turtte- neck sweater (b) on page 28 is $75. Mantles velvet scarf on page 34 is $45. Manties oblong silk scarf on page 37 is $25. ‘| In our 8-3 Shopping Is Good flyer, Nygard wardrobe con- test on page 5/37 the date of the. contest has changed to Sept. 23 to Oct. 28. Sorry for any inconvenience », this may haye caused: |: régé, Show Ryuzanji. Ryuzanji already had a long track record at the fore- front of Japan’s underground and avante-garde theatre before he established Ryuzanji & Company in 1984. This company has become well known in Japan and Korea for its blending of the- atrical genres with suc works as Ryusanji Macbeth, Shakespeare presented in Kabuki style, and Picaresque Mokuami, a Japanese classic canon presented in contem- porary musical style. Educating Mad Personsis also billed as 1 musical. While the play uses music, percussion and several disso- nant songs sung, in English thar are as jarring as a broken bottle in the face, it is nota musical in any Western sense — not even with a five- minute recording played as a prologue with the house lights still up. Unfortunately, the surtitles, which otherwise worked to good effect in translating the minimal dia- logue, were not used here, so I have no idea as to the sig- nificance of the song used. The mimed action that finally followed was also, | think, prologue. Twelve men and women, all carrying bag- gage of some sort, march and move in unison until the action freezes and the cases become seats in a train, bus or subway. The men then manipulate the women as Mannequins, even going so far as to lift and carry them (burdens, prizes or posses- sions? ). The women then leave while the men robe them- selves, ninja-like, as Bunraku artists and set the physical perimeter of what will bind the action. When the women return, they are wearing makeup and costume to depict six charac- ters ina houschold who are told by a supposedly infalli- ble doctor that one of them is mad. They decide for themselves that the mad per- son must be identified and killed in order to preserve the family honour. I wish i knew which ele- ments of Noh theatre are ref- erenced by the vivid cos- tumes and makeup. But in terms of the action, each character gets to exphin who they are in the family hierar- chy and what makes them tick. Just when E begaa to think the explanations were getting way too obvious, the characters also commented on their role as the puppets controlled by the men — life, after all, is only a one-act puppet piay. Ultimately, the messages of this production are not original, especially in terms of Japanese culture: if you don’t want to be considered mad it is very important to live like others, imitating them; even rebellion is con- trolled by outside forces; and, antithetically, in the clear blue heaven there is nobody there. Bur, original or not, I really enjoyed the multime- dia vision (added animation or computerization would be interesting in this context) and intense performances in this existential “musical”. However, it’s the Jook and style of the show that live in my memory, not its words, and I left feeling [ had been educated rather than involved in the action. ICBC HAS A TEAM OF LAWYERS, SHOULDN'T YOU? 1 ¢ Ail claims have time limits * Documents you sign can be used against you. 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