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A CurtainUp London London Review
Shun-Kin



Our ancestors, forced to live in dark rooms, presently came to discover beauty in shadows, ultimately to guide shadows towards beauty's ends. — From the essay In Praise of Shadows by Jun'ichiro Tanizaki
Shun-Kin
Yuko Miyamoto, Eri Fukatsu, Yoshi Oida from an earlier performance of Shun-Kin
(Photo: Tsukasa Aoki)
Nocturnal beauty is the key to Complicité's latest production Shun-kin: dark beauty which is unobtainable, cruel and unspeakably desirable. Taking the 1933 essay on aesthetics In Praise of Shadows by the classical Japanese writer Jun'ichiro Tanizaki as a thematic framework, this devised piece explores the dialectic of East and West, in addition to light and dark. This is appropriate enough for a collaboration between Complicité, Setagaya Public Theatre and barbicanbite09, but the overarching themes do not threaten to undermine Complicité's characteristically impressionistic, hypnotic style.

The main narrative is based on Tanizaki's short story A Portrait of Shun-kin, which describes in pseudo-documentary style the life of a girl from a wealthy family in the 19th century Meiji Era. She is meticulously protected and hidden from the outside world and so her beauty is tantalisingly concealed from daylight and general view. Maliciously blinded as a child, she becomes spoilt and cruel, not least to her devoted serving boy, Sasuke. His unswerving adoration to his mistress means that he accepts her pitiless violence and tyrannical disposition without demur.

The remarkable thing about this production is the non-judgemental tone assumed towards Shun-kin. She is ruthlessly harsh on Sasuke but she is also presented as the rightful object of unadulterated desire and absolute subservience. In this way, the story sits on a borderline between the perverted relationship of fantasy and violence and nostalgia for this shadowy traditional time.

With a modern frame to the action, a woman with her own tangled love life narrates the story for radio. As she reads the script from a tiny, moveable desk with old-fashioned lamp and microphone, the rest of the cast act out the story around her.

This framing device is not the only piece of dramatic innovation, as you would expect from Complicité. There are numerous gestures towards Noh and Kabuki and stunning lighting with clever tricks abound. Japanese script and sepia photographs are projected onto the backdrop whilst the cast create surprisingly detailed scenes with minimalist props and imaginative movement. A fragile-looking puppet, designed by Blind Summit, plays the exquisite but tantrum-prone Shun-kin until the part is gradually morphed into a real actress.

A shamisen player sits onstage and plays throughout, but he is restrained and cleverly interwoven into the play to avoid becoming a distraction. Unfortunately, however, a distraction does appear in the shape of the surtitles. Performed in Japanese, the radio narration is less punctuated than a dialogue-driven narrative would be and it is therefore more difficult for the audience to navigate between translation and action.

Shun-kin may not surpass earlier productions by Complicitéor the high expectations they've created, but this story of dark, twisted love in the beautiful Meiji era is still an alluringly mesmeric piece, performed with pared-down, slick stylization.

Shun-Kin
Based on the writings of Jun'ichiro Tanizaki
Directed by Simon McBurney

With: Kaho Aso, Songha Cho, Eri Fukatsu, Hidetaro Honjo, Yoshi Oida, Yuko Miyamoto, Kentaro Mizuki, Yasuyo Mochizuki, Keitoku Takada, Ryoko Tateishi
Composer: Hidetaro Honjo
Projection: Finn Ross for mesmer
Puppetry: Blind Summit Theatre
Set design: Merle Hensel and Rumi Matsui
Lighting design: Paul Anderson
Sound design: Gareth Fry
Costume design: Christina Cunningham
Co-produced by Complicité, Setagaya Public Theatre and barbicanbite09
Running time: One hour 50 minutes without an interval
Box Office: 020 7638 8891
Booking to 21st February 2009
Reviewed by Charlotte Loveridge based on 9th February 2009 performance at The Barbican Theatre, Silk Street, EC2 (Tube: Barbican)
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