When the directors of DangerHouse Productions planned to producethe West Coast premiere of the 18th-century Japanese drama “TheLove Suicides at Amijima” this summer, they couldn’t have knownthat the play would open just after a trio of murder-suicides inSan Diego.
In late May, a family of four died when Alfredo and GeorginaPimienta drowned their daughters and then killed themselves attheir Paradise Hills home, because of financial problems. On June1, a Chula Vista woman and her two pre-teens were strangled by herlive-in boyfriend, who then jumped to his death from a freewaybridge in Spring Valley. And on June 21, Chula Vista residentThomas Fuchs killed his two teen sons and then himself because of acustody battle with his ex-wife and financial problems.
As a result, the production —- which closes the San Diegotheater’s second season —- couldn’t be more timely. Producersteamed with a local suicide prevention organization to provideinformation to showgoers, and a post-show forum on suicideprevention was held last week.
Staged by director Justine Hince in a new 212-seat theater inNational City, the production uses a translation by Donald Keene ofChikamatsu Monzaemon’s drama, believed to have been written in1703.
Monzaemon (1853-1725), widely regarded as Japan’s greatestdramatist, createdjoruri, a form of puppet theater thatlater came to be known as Bunraku, and with live actors, kabukidrama.
His play concerns a a paper merchant named Kamiya Jihei, orKamiji (Trevor F. Salter), who has neglected his wife, two childrenand business because he’s been involved with a 19-year-oldprostitute named Koharu (Carla Novarro). Since they cannot betogether in this life because of their situations, they have made asuicide pact.
Jihei’s well-intentioned samurai brother, the honorable Magoemon(Jeff Hillman), goes to the teahouse where Koharu is employed,assesses the situation and tries to prevent the suicides.
Magoemon’s purpose is thwarted by interference on the part ofother family members, Jihei’s wife, Osan (Jyl Kaneshiro), who trulyloves him; his mother-in-law (Miranda Halverson); and hisfather-in-law, Gozaemon (Paul Araujo), each of whom has some kindof vested interest in the couple. Others in the company areChristen Zulli as Sugi, also a prostitute; Mary Reagan as themadam; and Chris Fonseca as Tahei, Jihei’s colorful rival.
The style of the piece is presentational, with all save thelovers acting as narrators. In other words, the audience is toldthe story, more than shown it. This takes some getting used to onthe part of Western audiences. The language, rather stilted in itstranslation, has the ritualistic feel of Japanese-style drama.Perhaps with a more evenly gifted company and more sophisticated(expensive) production values, those unaccustomed to this style oftheater would feel more comfortable. There were many Asians in theaudience, and this is a good thing.
Danger Daphne (Hinch) and Danger Dee’s (Navarro) costumes arelovely, and their multilevel set with screens serves many purposes.Lighting by Danger Domino (Marie Miller) is effective, and DangerDagda’s (Charles Wallace) sound design employs recorded Japanesekoto.
The actors are challenged acoustically by the double-prosceniumconstruction of the theater: When they speak into the wings,diction is lost. Nonetheless, there is some stage work on the partof these young community actors that’s impressive. Fonseca,Hillman, Kaneshiro (a founding member of the San Diego AsianAmerican Repertory Theatre) and Salter are especially adept andsavvy.
