FRINGE 2019: Surreal Japanese satire soars
Are You Lovin’ It?
Stage 5 (King Edward Elementary School)
The Fringe program stole a bit of reviewer’s thunder in their capsule synopsis of this piece by Theatre Group GUMBO of Osaka, Japan: “A surreal romp” – there is no better term.
You could add “zany, wackadoodle, looney tunes” … whatever. This is really out there, by North American standards. Yet the humor is still accessible.
Remember The Simpsons episode where they go to Japan? Recall the entire “knife goes in, guts come out” sequence and you’ve got a really good idea what might happen here.
Is there anywhere else on the planet than Japan where people have such strangely hilarious imaginations? The second to opening sequence involved an outlandish and completely over-the-top send-up of Japanese businessmen that could make you laugh so hard you cry. Then, after incurring an unanticipated disembowelment, a Kabuki-faced Manga character shows up to play the limbo – with the man’s twitching intestines taking the place of the bar.
What happens next is never predictable, and always fun.
As a partial satire of the insidious influence of American popular culture in Japan, it is truly inspired. Even if audience laughs are a simple response to the outlandish silliness in a non-North American style of humour, it doesn’t matter. This piece is so uniquely original and the performers so engaging that you probably won’t see anything else like it at this year’s Fringe.
5 out of 5
