A story about being moved by my favorite actor's performance - Impressions of Reading Theater RAMPO in the DARK
CCCreation Presents
Reading Theater Vol. 1
RAMPO in the DARK
"Daydream", "The Human Chair", "The Red Room"
I've been looking forward to this reading theater ever since it was announced!
Although it was in a streaming format, the sound and image quality were better than I expected, and I really enjoyed it!
Embarrassingly, I had never read any Edogawa Rampo works before, but
since my favorite actor was wearing a hakama, I was incredibly excited to see what kind of role he would play.🥰
When the curtain rose, I was first surprised by the role itself!!
His role and performance in "Daydream" were especially wonderful!
※Please be aware that there are spoilers below.
I hadn't really seen my favorite actor play a psychopath-like role before, so to be honest,
I was blown away by his psychopathic performance.
I feel like you almost never get to see the moment a human becomes psychopathic, so personally, I was very happy to see such a performance from him!
I almost want him to play more villains! (lol)
He was saying scary lines with a refreshing smile, so
while watching the performance,
"Wait... this person is a bad guy, right? But if he loves his wife this much, isn't he a good guy? (No)"
I had this strange feeling of my brain glitching, and the sensation of chills running down my spine was amazing.🥺
(Yes, I'm sorry✋ I'm a masochist)
Ah, this is what a psychopath really is... it was a convincing performance.
In any case, it was a masterpiece that drew me in so much I held my breath, and I enjoyed the unique worldview.
I watched the C, H, and I groups, and since the atmosphere of the story changed every time the combination of actors changed, I enjoyed it even though I knew the content.
Here are my rough impressions of the three stories.
【Daydream】
Just as the title suggests, it's a fluffy, mysterious worldview where you can't tell if it's a dream or reality.
A young man giving an impassioned speech.
Loudly claiming that he killed his wife, and arguing as if his wife was the one at fault and he was in the right—that posture was truly psychopathic.
The narration by the man who heard the speech also ended in a dizzying tone, leaving me immersed in the lingering question of what this all was... was it a dream?
【The Human Chair】
A chair maker who makes chairs loved by those who sit in them, but who doesn't know how to interact with humans and doesn't know love.
A strange story about him crawling inside a chair he made, becoming one with it, and learning about love through that chair.
If you think about it normally, it's terrifying... that there's a person inside a chair.😱
Furthermore, the fact that he falls in love through the warmth of a human he has never even seen is completely incomprehensible, which made it feel even more terrifying.
By having a female voice actor perform this narration instead of a male one, the perverted nature was toned down in a very good way, and the bewitching expression conveyed the feeling of falling in love while simultaneously drawing me into a chilling worldview.
Also, what moved me about this story was the use of lighting!
The background seemed to change into many colors depending on the lighting, and when the light was only hitting the voice actor's eyes, it looked as if they were peeking out from the gaps in the chair. It made me realize how much you can be drawn into a worldview and how the atmosphere changes depending on the use of lighting...
【The Red Room】
This one was also psychopathic... The way he pretended he did the right thing just because life was boring, while actually feeling pleasure in killing people, was truly a masterful performance. It was so realistic that I thought it would be terrifying if such a person actually existed.
The red chair, music, darkness, and lighting highlighted the strangeness, increasing the terror.
These are just rough impressions, but the voice actors' performances were wonderful, and in addition to that, the synergistic effect of the lighting, costumes, and music
allowed me to immerse myself in the eerie worldview penned by Edogawa Rampo.
If there is a next production, I would definitely love to see it again!!
https://www.cccreation.co.jp/stage/rampo-in-the-dark/