Kabuki NEXT Lord of the Lies (Oboro no Mori ni Sumu Oni), seen from the front row of the second balcony. Straight to the point: Somegoro Ichikawa’s Shuten was perfect. The costume, the make-up — everything about him was cool. I bought a pile of bromide photos online afterwards. As ever, today was the best.
What kind of production is Lord of the Lies?
Lord of the Lies was first staged in 2007 as a collaboration from the theatre company Gekidan Shinkansen to Shochiku. Back then, the lead role of Rai was played by Somegoro Ichikawa — that is, the actor we now know as Koshiro Matsumoto. Seventeen years on, it returned to the Shinbashi Enbujo Theatre as the second instalment of “Kabuki NEXT”, written by Kazuki Nakashima and directed by Hidenori Inoue.
Loosely based on Richard III, it is the story of Rai, a man who lies and schemes his way up to the throne. This time Rai was double-cast from Koshiro to Matsuya Onoe, and whichever of them was not playing Rai appeared as Sadamitsu instead — a clever twist.
The performance I saw was the matinee, with Matsuya as Rai. My seat was in the front row of the second balcony, slightly over on the kamite side (house right). With no railing in my sightline, it was a lovely seat with a clear view of the whole stage.
Somegoro’s Shuten was perfect
That really says it all. The costume, the make-up — every single thing about him was perfectly cool.
His fight scenes were superb, and honestly, he looked cool just standing there. Cool in motion, cool standing still. His very existence was cool.
Afterwards I found myself buying a great many bromide photos online. (Inevitable.) You know how online shopping goes — you happily click away at everything you like, and suddenly the total in your basket is eye-watering. That is exactly what happened here, and the figure left me wide-eyed (laughs). I did go back and narrow it down to a carefully chosen few 🧐
Tokizo’s Tsuna: he has it all
The other performer who shot me straight through the heart was Tokizo Nakamura as Tsuna.
The look, first of all: superb. The bearing and the movements: love them. And then the allure and the seductiveness. Honestly, he has it all.
Getting to see Shuten and Tsuna on the same stage — what a luxurious production.
Surprised by the Shinkansen music, then hooked
The most “Kabuki NEXT” part of the experience was the music. It is completely different from the usual kabuki soundscape, so at first I was startled.
But strangely enough, once you get used to it, it is simply cool. The music matches the headlong momentum of the story perfectly, and before I knew it I was having a wonderful time. As a different doorway into kabuki, starting with a production like this strikes me as a perfectly good idea.
Final Thoughts
As for Matsuya’s Rai: he was properly wicked (laughs). A man of lies and desire, thoroughly enjoyed.
From the moment the forest curtain spread out before my eyes, I was pulled into the world of the Oboro forest. My one regret: the Shinbashi Enbujo was as crowded as ever, and I could not browse the theatre shop at my leisure! There were so many goods I wanted to look at — but well, the bromides made it safely into my hands, so all is well!
