Alibaba & Beggar of Love [Impressions]
I went to the purple tent to see the two plays, "Alibaba" and "Beggar of Love."
While I have thoughts on the plays themselves, I also want to record my heatstroke prevention measures, as I believe there is no such thing as too much information when it comes to how much preparation is needed or what the heat is actually like, even if you are told to be fully prepared.
I feel like my impressions will end up being long and rambling, so I'll start by writing about the heat countermeasures.
Reserved seat, upper level, next to the hanamichi (runway).
・Salt tablets ← ◎ Take them before the performance and during the intermission. It seemed like many people around me were eating them.
・Frozen sports drink (purchased 30 minutes before doors opened) ← ◎ It doesn't melt that much. Please be careful of the sound of the ice.
・Cooling towel ← ◎ The performance time for "Beggar of Love" was over an hour, so it won't last until the end, but I recommend it.
・Roll-on cooling stick ← ○ There is no breeze, so it doesn't feel very cool on its own, but it was useful when fanning myself with the fan I borrowed.
・Cooling spray for the whole body ← △ I couldn't use it because the person next to me was sitting too close. I only used it once while waiting.
Before the performance, it's cool because they have fans and air conditioning on, but that stops once the show begins.
I didn't feel the heat that much during "Alibaba," but in the middle of "Beggar of Love," my body temperature spiked all at once. Even though I kept applying the frozen drink to my major blood vessels, it wouldn't go down, and I was driven into a situation where I couldn't leave even if I wanted to. That's right. An office worker who lives in air-conditioned comfort started showing symptoms of mild heatstroke.
The only way to create a breeze is with the fan in your hand. Please don't worry about the people around you. Please create a breeze. You will get heatstroke.
Impressions
As soon as I entered the grounds of Hanazono Shrine, a performer lent me a fan.
Since I arrived a few minutes earlier than the lineup, I was asked, "Which fan would you like? How about this one... oh, Yodobashi Camera?" When I said that, another performer started talking to me, saying, "Yodobashi is great, we bought the fans here at Yodobashi too," which made it fun even before the show started.
Who would have thought I'd be making small talk with a performer before the show?
I had heard that they would be selling merchandise by hand inside the tent, so I entered without buying anything outside. (The performers handle everything, including entrance guidance, ticket tearing, and seat guidance.)
I prepared the exact cash so there would be no change, raised my hand energetically, nodded when asked if one pamphlet would be enough, and successfully made my purchase.
Even after the merchandise sales ended, for the few minutes until the show started, they gave announcements about precautions in a funny way, like "if you drop your luggage, you won't get it back" or "be careful because some of the steps are traps." Usually, I would just kill time by playing on my smartphone until the show started, but I turned off my phone and let myself be absorbed by the atmosphere of the venue, and before I knew it, it was time for the show to begin.
"Alibaba"
Amidst the calming scent of mosquito coils, the lights dimmed, and when the curtain rose, there was a world consisting only of Shukuroku and Hinko on stage. Shukuroku began to talk gleefully about how he had chased a black horse barefoot.
The tempo of their back-and-forth was good and felt pleasant.
I watched it wondering if Shukuroku was a schizophrenic.
"This is Alibaba, a mysterious city"
What left an impression on me was the scene where Hinko begins to sing while holding a bright red globe as carefully as if she were holding a baby.
I feel like all my perceptions would change depending on how I interpret this city called Alibaba.
It was a sad, tear-jerking song to soothe a baby. It has remained in my ears, and even now, as I write this note, I find myself humming it.
I suddenly wondered how I would feel if I saw this red globe as a baby from the start. I want to check this when I see the play next time.
They would annoyingly cut off a stuttering child without listening to the end of their words, and a child with a deformity also appeared. None of the 16 children were without some kind of disability.
There were many other expressions that you probably wouldn't see in today's TV dramas, and that is why I can't stop going to see stage plays.
"Beggar of Love"
Compared to Alibaba, this was a work that was difficult to understand.
I had heard that it was something to be enjoyed sensually rather than through plot or ideology, but I didn't expect it to be to this extent. Since I could only see it once, I tried to analyze it while watching, and I fell into a quagmire.
Even though I know I shouldn't expect a clear story with a beginning, middle, and end from a Kara play, I was confused because the common sense of the works I have encountered so far did not apply.
I started watching it while racking my brain, but halfway through, I gave up on thinking. It's strange how, the moment I let myself be carried away by the heat felt from the stage, the wind created when a performer passed by, and the bustle outside the tent, I was able to enter the world of underground theater.
It was a masterpiece to see Taguchi, a weak-willed life insurance salesman who looked like a caricature of a modern person, take on the mysterious and murderous atmosphere of a pirate as he put on his cape.
The "yatai-kuzushi" (collapsing stage set) was also interesting.
Cars passing on the road behind the tent and pedestrians glancing sideways to see what was going on were all clearly visible, making it a one-of-a-kind space that mixed reality and fantasy within the story, the present and the past, and even reality and the story itself.
Summary
The tent performance, where you can directly feel the energy of the actors, left me exhausted and worn out.
I had so much I wanted to convey, but I couldn't organize it in a few minutes, so I only wrote "I'll come again" on the feedback sheet. That is something I regret.
But I'm glad I went on impulse. I'm a beginner who has hardly ever seen a stage play, but I love watching live performances, so it was a very happy time.
Since I missed the advance lottery, I hope I can get a ticket for Nagoya in the general sale.
I've already declared that I'll come again, and I feel like if I watch it one more time, I'll be able to immerse myself in "Beggar of Love" from the beginning.
The autumn performance was entirely in Kansai dialect, wasn't it? I'm already looking forward to it, wondering if it will have a different atmosphere from the tent performance, even though I haven't even gotten a ticket yet.