Imagine a black stage. Mid-stage right is a hanger with a few bits and bobs of clothing on it, a stool and a make-up table. The point about Japanese comic and actor Issey Ogata's show is that he makes up in front of you, so you see the transformation into all these wonderful characters, such as a waitress in a sushi bar who hates her job.
The part I love most is where he does this extraordinary meeting between a father and a son in a karaoke bar. The son has decided not to do school, university, work - instead, he's off to Europe. What's significant here is that he's not following in his father's footsteps, and he's made the decision without asking his father's permission. His father is torn between thinking, "Marvellous, you're spreading your wings," and increasingly realising his own life was just crap really. And in Japanese karaoke bars they will often catch you at your table and hand you the microphone. So in the middle of this intense conversation with his son, he starts to sing this karaoke song. It is heart-rendingly funny.
The fact that the show is in Japanese doesn't matter. When you have a great actor like Issey, his face, his body, his movement, is protean. I once saw that written about Laurence Olivier and I had to go and look it up. It means they change shape. Issey's show also gives you insights about Japan. What's weird is how similar Japan is to Britain. Both are ex-imperial countries. Both have enormous reliance on status, ritual, class distinction, and of course we both drink a lot of tea.
Issey was a huge hit last time he played England. But in Japan they think what he is doing is very radical. Consequently he has a very young audience there, and the traditionalists of Japanese theatre think he is appalling. At his first big showcase for the Noh Academy, most of them walked out. But I hope you enjoy Issey as much as I do.
