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Got to see my beautiful Tomo again this week! And once again I was blown away from his performance! But more on that later! Enjoy!
*If images aren't showing up then let me know, I'm having difficulty sorting them out.
Okay first things first. I saw the tweet about Bui the day before where they mentioned it being 4 hours long. Me being me I was like 'it is hell gunna be 4 hours long,' the actors came on stage and before they started Tanaka was like 'this is gunna be 4 hours long so bear with us and enjoy' and oh my even THEN I didn't believe them!
...
They weren't lying when they said it as gunna be 4 hours long!!! I really was 4 hours long! Actually more like 4hours10minutes long! =O Oh my! BUT I will tell you thing; after the first part, it did not feel like a 4 hour show. It FLEW by!
Also Harada Natsuki? Freaking beautiful and I really liked her role in this and her acting was phenominal! More on that later!
I didn't take a picture of my seat view this time cos literally the staff were always there so I didn't feel comfortable even after the show. But I was 3rd row (actually and properly 3rd row this time) and 2nd to the corner on the left hand side and I had a wonderful view! But I still used my HD glasses so I could see Tomo when he was right at the back of the stage! The stage was super cool too and it was like this (see above pic ^^ ) sandbox! Very interesting concept but most of it IS set on the beach so makes sense!
Also before the play I asked the staff where I could put my letter because, as freaking usual for Tomo's plays, there wasn't a box out to put presents in. And one of the guys on the staff team (who's clearly a higher up cos he wasn't wearing a uniform) approached me and was like, 'you wanted to hand in a letter?' so I gave it to him and he looked at the back to see who it was for and was like 'oh okay! Don't worry, I'll make sure it gets it. I'll go give it to him' and I was like 'thank you!!' xD I got REAL dokidoki when he approached me cos at first I couldn't figure out where he was approaching me, I'm glad he quickly told me why xD ALSO! The guy I was sat next to the entire time had a staff badge with him so that made me dokidoki too xD
NOW onto the actual play!
Parts of this play are played with the actors sitting to the side and watching which I thought was super interesting and it was greating seeing the actors get out of their seat and as soon as they were about to 'go on stage' they transformed into their characters which was fascinating. Also they would react to whatever was happening sometimes and obviously this is where Tomo's acting shines through; Tomo reacts SO naturally to everything that's happening on stage! He facial expressions, his slight movements, how he'll watch the other actors so carefully. If someone came on stage to take a seat (even if they're next to him) he'll look back at them slightly in acknowledgement which I absolutely loved ^_^ but I HAD to laugh at about 15 minutes into the play beccause someone walked in late and he proper gave them the evil side glance, it was hilarious but also made me think 'so the actors DO hate it when this happens!' I am SO against people walking in late but literally EVERY theater in Japan will let someone walk in even 90 minutes into a play so long as they have a ticket and I think it's SO rude and that doors SHOULD be shut after the first 10 minutes but they don't do that here at all! (You should've seen how late and how many people walked late into K stage when I was outside the theater all day on it's opening day. It's disgusting seriously!) But anyway! His bitchy side glance was hilarious xD
Part One
It seems like the main woman, called Mio, has a throat disease and she can't swallow or move properly. This is set in either during WW1 or WW2 so lets assume she's dying of cancer or (what's the rare one where you're movements stop progressively overtime...) another one, but obvs they didn't know what that was back in the day. Gorosan (her husband played by the marvelous Tanaka) is in denial and lying she won't die and keeps telling everyone they pay the doctor and get her better. Also Gorosan is supposed to be an artist but due to an older friend being considerably better and because of Mio's condition, he's kinda given it all up to help look after her but she, and others around him, are adament that he's restarts painting and makes a life out of it. His old friend also says 'if you stop painting then what you gunna do? You'll have nothing. You always were a better artist than me.' and he says this AFTER Gorosan gets really angry and rips up his friends painting!
I found this first part rather boring but probably cos it needs so much set up and also Mio's mother and sister are complete bitches. So stuck up!
This play is in the format of like 2 to 3 scenes per part. So these scenes are VERY long so can feel a little draggy at times.
Part Two
Second part is where it really started picking up.
We start getting more serious about Mio's condition and turns out her mother has left her money but she ends up giving to Goro saying 'promise me you'll start painting again' to which he agrees. Also in the first scene back with Mio and Goro, she askes 'Is there a god?'
Goro: Oh course! Gods are in trees, in me, in our friends, our family. Gods are everywhere!
Mio: No seriously, if I die... and after I die... is there a god?
Goro pauses: ... There is.
Soon after this, there's a moment where she's left alone after giving money to Goro (to go back to his painting), and she slowly opens the mirror which was hidden behind her pillow, but quickly closes it due to the horror or shock of how pale/skinny/unhealthy looking she has become, and she quickly puts makeup on her face and throws the mirror. It was a really impactful scene. Especially when the lights had so beautiful catched the tear line that was down the right side of her face. It got to me. Then Goro's mother comes back and figures out what's happened, and tells her how pretty she is and wipes her tears for her. I seriously love Goro's mother; she stays so positive and tries to keep everyone cheery and smiley.
Then a guy from the army turns up (not sure if he's Goro's friend or sibling) and he explains how he just got back from whatever part of the world (probably Okinawa) he was fighting in, but he also says he doesn't know when he'll get sent back. Mio get's worried and says 'It wouldn't be tomorrow right?' which he doesn't answer and instead says 'well I can only stay here 2 hours,' Goro comes back and he gives the man a drink even though he refuses at first Goro explains 'Mio can't drink so have it for her,'
Then Tomo turns up being all energetic and smiley (can't figure out how he's related to them all) but then runs off to go find a woman he likes that's supposed to be at the beach.
Tomo's turned up with a girl also who turns out to be the army man's wife and she knows Goro and Mio very well. So turns out she's pregnant. But she says it in like a 'what if it's born while you're at war?'
Army Man: Born? ... what?
Wife: It might not be true... It might be true....
Army Man: Did you go to the doctor?
Wife: Not but I spoke to my sister and she said it could be true
So obviously they want to celebrate but both of them are worried about him not being present for the birth, to which Goro says
"he'll give birth if he's not there for it" implying he'll look after his wife ^_^
I got REAL emotional during this scene for some reason but then the next moment I realised why; Mio quickly starts asking Goro to go out for a walk cos he's drunk and that he should let them to go into another room so they can talk alone and it soon becomes apparent that Mio is heart broken as she realises she won't be able to have a kid nor live long enough to even get pregnant. And damn....
And thus ends the second -- did this girl two seats down seriously just burp towards me?! -- half.
Part Three
Third half starts with the girl (as you seen above) singing on the beach and Tomo (who btw has the ideal body I want from a guy! Muscles in the right places, perfect slim stomach... just perfect! Minus those clearly obvious pin scars in his knee xD) comes on in his 'swimwear' and tries to have a conversation with her (tbh I was too busy looking at him to pay attention to what they were talking about). At one point he comes right to the front of the stage, and on my side of the stage, and I had to look away and look at her while he was right there in front of me. Cos if he'd caught my eye, I just would've gotten so embarassed. But anyway back to his character! He asks if she likes Goro (which she clearly does) and then she ends up asking him if he would marry her but then quickly says it's a joke.
Goro comes on and she says she'll ride that boat over there with Tomo so he leaves.
Then Goro starts looking at her up and down which makes her uncomfortable.
Goro: How much do you weigh?
She tells him
Goro: My wife must be the same.. no wait... she must be half your weight now...
Then he starts verbally attacking her after seeing her body and that we're all just a body that'll die one day, and it'll go on and on so what's the point having kids when it'll only continue the cycle etc.
Then he ends up grabbing her and is like 'do you like me?!' And she's like 'it hurts.'
Then the doctor comes and Tomo yells for her now that he's got the boat over, so she leaves. The doctor reveals that there's nothing he can do to save Mio and Goro loses it and is like 'you and your probability! Save her!' and he's like 'there's nothing I can do anymore. No medicine can cure her. She could live years, she could live months, or today could be her last day, I don't know.'
Then we go back to Mio and Goro's mother and Mio says she's happy but is worried about Goro when she goes. << by this point a LOT of people in the audience are already in constant tears and we still got a good 30 or so minutes to go!
Goro comes back home and shows her the new painting he finally did. She tries to sit up in bed so she can look and he holds her up She comments on it and he tries to put her back down but she says 'I want to see it a little longer' now THIS is where I started crying! Just streams of tears. And she asks him to read to her (I think it's a book he personally wrote of short poetry or something cos it's like couplets and then he'll comment about what the meaning is and everything), and also to promise not to be angry cos she's found out his friend has been stealing his work and she's gotten a written letter of proof and she tells him that he can make it as an artist. Before he gets too angry, she asks him to read again.
Finally he reads but he does he goes back on his earlier statement that we saw him back in part two about god. He suddenly gets really angry in front of her: 'there is no God, there's nothing after death. All we have is to live and live until the end and do what we can'.
Then Goro's mother comes in and says Mio's students (turns out she's a teacher?) have come to see her and (it seems like finally) Mio accepts them and Goro says 'promise me you won't talk to them. promise me you won't say a word' she promises and they come in.
And so her students turn up and say they want her to get better. In fact by this point ALL the other actors are back in their seats on stage and are acting as the students. And they talk about what they're doing since they graduated her class and that they collected money to help her get better and that they want her to return to work soon and even some students she'd never taught but they had heard of her turned up. Although she promised not to speak, right at the end after the students have spoken, she's like 'please live out my part of life too. You were students I loved' and Goro quickly tries to get them out, and he's like 'why did you speak?! Why you using past tense?!'
She goes back to asking him to read so the conversation would end, which he does. She falls asleep and he struggles to wake her up and checks her pulse and head and yells for his mother to get water to cool down her fever. And he's like 'stay awake! Listen to me!' but she's adamant he keeps on reading and she keeps going in and out of conciousness as he reads so he ends up yelling to keep her awake and to bring her back. But finally she does go and he's left there yelling and grabbing a hold and shaking her to try and wake her up and omg we were ALL gone... The entire room was just.... we were heart broken. Such an amazing performance. Holy moly, I'm having to try and breath deeply right now... it was SO impactful and just omg... heartbreaking.
But seriously Tomo, please stop doing plays that break me.
---
Overall: They weren't lying when they said it was 4 hours long! But after part one, it absolutely flew by and I liked so many of the characters and Tomo's partially naked body was definitely welcome, and once again his acting impresses me so much <3 this story is heartbreaking, impactful, some funny moments and very deep. It was such an eye opener and I wouldn't normally see stuff like this but I'm glad I did. So many things to think about, so many important themes and the way things were handled felt very real and I am very impressed by this stage.
Rating: 7/10
*If images aren't showing up then let me know, I'm having difficulty sorting them out.
Okay first things first. I saw the tweet about Bui the day before where they mentioned it being 4 hours long. Me being me I was like 'it is hell gunna be 4 hours long,' the actors came on stage and before they started Tanaka was like 'this is gunna be 4 hours long so bear with us and enjoy' and oh my even THEN I didn't believe them!
...
They weren't lying when they said it as gunna be 4 hours long!!! I really was 4 hours long! Actually more like 4hours10minutes long! =O Oh my! BUT I will tell you thing; after the first part, it did not feel like a 4 hour show. It FLEW by!
Also Harada Natsuki? Freaking beautiful and I really liked her role in this and her acting was phenominal! More on that later!
I didn't take a picture of my seat view this time cos literally the staff were always there so I didn't feel comfortable even after the show. But I was 3rd row (actually and properly 3rd row this time) and 2nd to the corner on the left hand side and I had a wonderful view! But I still used my HD glasses so I could see Tomo when he was right at the back of the stage! The stage was super cool too and it was like this (see above pic ^^ ) sandbox! Very interesting concept but most of it IS set on the beach so makes sense!
Also before the play I asked the staff where I could put my letter because, as freaking usual for Tomo's plays, there wasn't a box out to put presents in. And one of the guys on the staff team (who's clearly a higher up cos he wasn't wearing a uniform) approached me and was like, 'you wanted to hand in a letter?' so I gave it to him and he looked at the back to see who it was for and was like 'oh okay! Don't worry, I'll make sure it gets it. I'll go give it to him' and I was like 'thank you!!' xD I got REAL dokidoki when he approached me cos at first I couldn't figure out where he was approaching me, I'm glad he quickly told me why xD ALSO! The guy I was sat next to the entire time had a staff badge with him so that made me dokidoki too xD
NOW onto the actual play!
Parts of this play are played with the actors sitting to the side and watching which I thought was super interesting and it was greating seeing the actors get out of their seat and as soon as they were about to 'go on stage' they transformed into their characters which was fascinating. Also they would react to whatever was happening sometimes and obviously this is where Tomo's acting shines through; Tomo reacts SO naturally to everything that's happening on stage! He facial expressions, his slight movements, how he'll watch the other actors so carefully. If someone came on stage to take a seat (even if they're next to him) he'll look back at them slightly in acknowledgement which I absolutely loved ^_^ but I HAD to laugh at about 15 minutes into the play beccause someone walked in late and he proper gave them the evil side glance, it was hilarious but also made me think 'so the actors DO hate it when this happens!' I am SO against people walking in late but literally EVERY theater in Japan will let someone walk in even 90 minutes into a play so long as they have a ticket and I think it's SO rude and that doors SHOULD be shut after the first 10 minutes but they don't do that here at all! (You should've seen how late and how many people walked late into K stage when I was outside the theater all day on it's opening day. It's disgusting seriously!) But anyway! His bitchy side glance was hilarious xD
Part One
It seems like the main woman, called Mio, has a throat disease and she can't swallow or move properly. This is set in either during WW1 or WW2 so lets assume she's dying of cancer or (what's the rare one where you're movements stop progressively overtime...) another one, but obvs they didn't know what that was back in the day. Gorosan (her husband played by the marvelous Tanaka) is in denial and lying she won't die and keeps telling everyone they pay the doctor and get her better. Also Gorosan is supposed to be an artist but due to an older friend being considerably better and because of Mio's condition, he's kinda given it all up to help look after her but she, and others around him, are adament that he's restarts painting and makes a life out of it. His old friend also says 'if you stop painting then what you gunna do? You'll have nothing. You always were a better artist than me.' and he says this AFTER Gorosan gets really angry and rips up his friends painting!
I found this first part rather boring but probably cos it needs so much set up and also Mio's mother and sister are complete bitches. So stuck up!
This play is in the format of like 2 to 3 scenes per part. So these scenes are VERY long so can feel a little draggy at times.
Part Two
Second part is where it really started picking up.
We start getting more serious about Mio's condition and turns out her mother has left her money but she ends up giving to Goro saying 'promise me you'll start painting again' to which he agrees. Also in the first scene back with Mio and Goro, she askes 'Is there a god?'
Goro: Oh course! Gods are in trees, in me, in our friends, our family. Gods are everywhere!
Mio: No seriously, if I die... and after I die... is there a god?
Goro pauses: ... There is.
Soon after this, there's a moment where she's left alone after giving money to Goro (to go back to his painting), and she slowly opens the mirror which was hidden behind her pillow, but quickly closes it due to the horror or shock of how pale/skinny/unhealthy looking she has become, and she quickly puts makeup on her face and throws the mirror. It was a really impactful scene. Especially when the lights had so beautiful catched the tear line that was down the right side of her face. It got to me. Then Goro's mother comes back and figures out what's happened, and tells her how pretty she is and wipes her tears for her. I seriously love Goro's mother; she stays so positive and tries to keep everyone cheery and smiley.
Then a guy from the army turns up (not sure if he's Goro's friend or sibling) and he explains how he just got back from whatever part of the world (probably Okinawa) he was fighting in, but he also says he doesn't know when he'll get sent back. Mio get's worried and says 'It wouldn't be tomorrow right?' which he doesn't answer and instead says 'well I can only stay here 2 hours,' Goro comes back and he gives the man a drink even though he refuses at first Goro explains 'Mio can't drink so have it for her,'
Then Tomo turns up being all energetic and smiley (can't figure out how he's related to them all) but then runs off to go find a woman he likes that's supposed to be at the beach.
Tomo's turned up with a girl also who turns out to be the army man's wife and she knows Goro and Mio very well. So turns out she's pregnant. But she says it in like a 'what if it's born while you're at war?'
Army Man: Born? ... what?
Wife: It might not be true... It might be true....
Army Man: Did you go to the doctor?
Wife: Not but I spoke to my sister and she said it could be true
So obviously they want to celebrate but both of them are worried about him not being present for the birth, to which Goro says
"he'll give birth if he's not there for it" implying he'll look after his wife ^_^
I got REAL emotional during this scene for some reason but then the next moment I realised why; Mio quickly starts asking Goro to go out for a walk cos he's drunk and that he should let them to go into another room so they can talk alone and it soon becomes apparent that Mio is heart broken as she realises she won't be able to have a kid nor live long enough to even get pregnant. And damn....
And thus ends the second -- did this girl two seats down seriously just burp towards me?! -- half.
Part Three
Third half starts with the girl (as you seen above) singing on the beach and Tomo (who btw has the ideal body I want from a guy! Muscles in the right places, perfect slim stomach... just perfect! Minus those clearly obvious pin scars in his knee xD) comes on in his 'swimwear' and tries to have a conversation with her (tbh I was too busy looking at him to pay attention to what they were talking about). At one point he comes right to the front of the stage, and on my side of the stage, and I had to look away and look at her while he was right there in front of me. Cos if he'd caught my eye, I just would've gotten so embarassed. But anyway back to his character! He asks if she likes Goro (which she clearly does) and then she ends up asking him if he would marry her but then quickly says it's a joke.
Goro comes on and she says she'll ride that boat over there with Tomo so he leaves.
Then Goro starts looking at her up and down which makes her uncomfortable.
Goro: How much do you weigh?
She tells him
Goro: My wife must be the same.. no wait... she must be half your weight now...
Then he starts verbally attacking her after seeing her body and that we're all just a body that'll die one day, and it'll go on and on so what's the point having kids when it'll only continue the cycle etc.
Then he ends up grabbing her and is like 'do you like me?!' And she's like 'it hurts.'
Then the doctor comes and Tomo yells for her now that he's got the boat over, so she leaves. The doctor reveals that there's nothing he can do to save Mio and Goro loses it and is like 'you and your probability! Save her!' and he's like 'there's nothing I can do anymore. No medicine can cure her. She could live years, she could live months, or today could be her last day, I don't know.'
Then we go back to Mio and Goro's mother and Mio says she's happy but is worried about Goro when she goes. << by this point a LOT of people in the audience are already in constant tears and we still got a good 30 or so minutes to go!
Goro comes back home and shows her the new painting he finally did. She tries to sit up in bed so she can look and he holds her up She comments on it and he tries to put her back down but she says 'I want to see it a little longer' now THIS is where I started crying! Just streams of tears. And she asks him to read to her (I think it's a book he personally wrote of short poetry or something cos it's like couplets and then he'll comment about what the meaning is and everything), and also to promise not to be angry cos she's found out his friend has been stealing his work and she's gotten a written letter of proof and she tells him that he can make it as an artist. Before he gets too angry, she asks him to read again.
Finally he reads but he does he goes back on his earlier statement that we saw him back in part two about god. He suddenly gets really angry in front of her: 'there is no God, there's nothing after death. All we have is to live and live until the end and do what we can'.
Then Goro's mother comes in and says Mio's students (turns out she's a teacher?) have come to see her and (it seems like finally) Mio accepts them and Goro says 'promise me you won't talk to them. promise me you won't say a word' she promises and they come in.
And so her students turn up and say they want her to get better. In fact by this point ALL the other actors are back in their seats on stage and are acting as the students. And they talk about what they're doing since they graduated her class and that they collected money to help her get better and that they want her to return to work soon and even some students she'd never taught but they had heard of her turned up. Although she promised not to speak, right at the end after the students have spoken, she's like 'please live out my part of life too. You were students I loved' and Goro quickly tries to get them out, and he's like 'why did you speak?! Why you using past tense?!'
She goes back to asking him to read so the conversation would end, which he does. She falls asleep and he struggles to wake her up and checks her pulse and head and yells for his mother to get water to cool down her fever. And he's like 'stay awake! Listen to me!' but she's adamant he keeps on reading and she keeps going in and out of conciousness as he reads so he ends up yelling to keep her awake and to bring her back. But finally she does go and he's left there yelling and grabbing a hold and shaking her to try and wake her up and omg we were ALL gone... The entire room was just.... we were heart broken. Such an amazing performance. Holy moly, I'm having to try and breath deeply right now... it was SO impactful and just omg... heartbreaking.
But seriously Tomo, please stop doing plays that break me.
---
Overall: They weren't lying when they said it was 4 hours long! But after part one, it absolutely flew by and I liked so many of the characters and Tomo's partially naked body was definitely welcome, and once again his acting impresses me so much <3 this story is heartbreaking, impactful, some funny moments and very deep. It was such an eye opener and I wouldn't normally see stuff like this but I'm glad I did. So many things to think about, so many important themes and the way things were handled felt very real and I am very impressed by this stage.
Rating: 7/10
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