Disappearance

First off I would like to congratulate the actors on an excellent job well done. I loved the performance and felt it was different from any theatrical performance I had ever seen, which is exactly what I had hoped for. I came on Thursday night to see the performance and I brought a friend with me, who has virtually no knowledge of the Asian theatres and what they consist of. I think this is the best thing I could have done because he was asking me questions about things that I knew based on what I had learned from class. I was able to better see the interesting elements that make this a modern Noh play.

Throughout the play I found that I wanted to understand and figure out the plot before it happened but at the same time I absorbed everything piecing it together into a puzzle that was both mysterious and entertaining. I saw the flowering at the end and everything made sense, but it also left me with questions, which to me makes this an excellent play.

My favorite character I believe was the Doctor whose name I cannot recall, but whose visage I remember perfectly. He had such an intriguing role that drove the action somewhat, but at the same time made the plot all the more puzzling. I wondered about the child that he is constantly referring to and I wonder if the boy is also a robot and, if even the doctor himself is a one. I enjoyed how his character interacted with the others in hardly ever a serious way, but when he does it creates an emotional effect on the audience that is shocking.

I wish that I had had the time to come back and see the Cantonese version of the play and how that affects the way the audience reacts to the action. The use of different languages was at time confusing but it made the play seem more emphasized and dramatic. Also, I loved the effect of the Jutai. It made the story a bit easier to follow and broke up the extreme amounts of dialogue, in order to keep the audience captivated. I loved the Noh concept of the ghosts being the Jutai and then also being the characters in the play. It was gripping and tied everything together to make the play more emotionally deep and left an impression on the audience