Arigato, Tokyo Press Package

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Thanks to a wonderful cast the riches of Arigato, Tokyo are unlocked (out of 4)

-TORONTO STAR

“Sometimes there’s God so quickly,” once wrote Tennessee Williams, an author that Daniel MacIvor has often been in spiritual sync with. And although the deity, per se, isn’t really on the table in MacIvor’s latest play, Arigato, Tokyo, which opened Thursday night at Buddies In Bad Times Theatre, there was some sort of higher power present in the air that marked this as one of those unexpectedly unique evenings of theatre that we all hope for.

It’s rare that MacIvor steps outside of his creative comfort zone, either staging his plays himself, or letting longtime colleague Daniel Brooks do the honours. And if there’s a leading male role, rest assured that MacIvor himself will probably play it.

But none of that happens in Arigato, Tokyo and the novelty of the production itself is a major part of the evening’s success, with superb staging by Brendan Healy, stark but beautiful scenery and costumes by Julie Fox, Kimberly Purtell’s bento-box lighting and Richard Feren’s pitch-perfect sound design.

Very loosely inspired by a pair of journeys MacIvor took to Japan several years ago, the script tells the story of a Canadian author named Carl who travels to Tokyo to give a series of readings from his works.

Wired on cocaine and sake, looking for love in all the wrong places, Carl begins having an affair with his female interpreter, shifts gears to a young transvestite entertainer and finally winds up with his interpreter’s brother, an actor in the Noh theatre.

The piece is a puzzle as artful as anything MacIvor has ever written and its subject, as it often is with this ever-searching author, is the topography of the human heart.

Arigato, Tokyo charts the often painful voyage that an individual can go on while trying to mix love with desire and loneliness with self-knowledge. Whether or not you find its conclusion happy or sad, I guarantee you will be moved by the progression toward it.

A wonderful cast helps unlock the script’s riches. David Storch is triumphant as Carl, the best performance I have ever seen him give. Storch isn’t afraid to show his character’s wilful self-indulgence or childlike petulance as he tries to melt the block of ice that his heart has become over the years. He is totally real and incredibly moving throughout.

Cara Gee and Michael Dufays are equally impressive as the brother and sister who fight for Carl’s soul, she all iron butterfly and he a soulful samurai.

Rounding out the evening is the memorable young Tyson James as Etta Waki, our guide through this strange world and a creation as fragile and wonderful to watch as one of those translucent tropical fish.

If you’re the kind of theatregoer who likes every “i” dotted and every “t” crossed, this isn’t the show for you.

Arigato,Tokyo cries out to be seen with an openness of spirit and a generosity of soul that matches that of its creators.

I began with a Tennessee Williams quote that captured the feeling of the evening and I’ll end with another that encapsulates its theme: “Make voyages, attempt them. There’s nothing else.”

by Richard Ouzounian

3

Thank you, Arigato (out of 5)

-TORONTO SUN

From a part of the world best known of late for cataclysmic collisions between shifting tectonic plates, playwright Daniel MacIvor has mined a stagework that brings together the templates of two cultures, not in a violent grinding confrontation, but in a thoughtful, exquisite fusion instead.

It’s called Arigato, Tokyo and it had its world premiere at Buddies In Bad Times last week.

Inspired by MacIvor’s own visit to Tokyo, the play — the title of which translates loosely (and with cavalier inaccuracy) as Thank You, Tokyo — tells the story of Carl, a Canadian writer, played with relish and artfully restrained abandon by David Storch. By his own admission, Carl lives for drugs and sex, but he is about to be transformed by a visit to the city of title.

He’s there, it develops, to read from his collected and highly cynical works, which he does — but there is a deeper reason for his visit too.

It might be to fall into the trap, spun by his beautiful and mysterious Japanese handler, Nushi (played by a note-perfect Cara Gee), who sees in him the embodiment of the hero of an ancient love story, or it might be simply to effect a sexual reunion with the exotic drag geisha, Etta Waki who, in the performance of the remarkable Tyson James, is transformed into the very soul of this pulsating and mysterious city.

Or finally, it might be to understand the subtle differences that hide in the spaces between “no,” “know” and “noh’ — the latter an ancient Japanese theatrical form practised by Nushi’s brother, played by a beautifully centred Michael Dufays — and thereby find his way back home.

Working with one of the more impressive casts assembled on a Toronto stage in some time, director Brendan Healy embraces the utter simplicity at the heart of all great Japanese art. In a memorable conspiracy with his design team — sets and costumes by Julie Fox, lighting by Kimberly Purtell, sound and music by Richard Feren and choreography by Hiroshi Miyamoto — he creates a production spare in all the right ways, stripped of anything that might detract from the richness of the characters and the story they tell.

And best of all, he finds in MacIvor’s carefully and beautifully drawn script, a perfect balance of the elements of Japanese flavour. To the saltiness of tears, the bitterness of loss, the sourness of excess and finally the sweetness of love, he adds just the right amount of umami — that exquisite but oh-so-hard-to-define theatrical element that exists in all the plays we savour — to finish it off to perfection.

Arigato, Tokyo is a deeply complex work that, in its setting and development, represents a major departure for a playwright known for simpler works like Here Lies Henry and Cul-de-sac, but ultimately, it soars on the same carefully considered construction and artfully under-drawn human compassion that has made MacIvor one of the greats of contemporary Canadian theatre.

by John Coulbourn

4

MACIVOR’S POSTCARD FROM JAPAN IS PICTURE PERFECT

-CHARLEBOIS POST

Daniel MacIvor’s Arigato, Tokyo is something of a creeper. Opening with the first of numerous cryptic monologues performed by the bewitchingly androgynous Etta Waki (Tyson James), it quickly finds focus in following Carl Dewer (David Storch) on a book tour in Japan, where his novel, he is told is loved not for its comedy, nor its observations on love, but as a melancholy work of ennui. A hard partying cynic on a strict, if insatiable diet of sex and cocaine, Carl is accompanied by his ‘good baby sitter’ minder, Nushi (Cara Gee), who may have a far more personalized style of care in mind for her Canadian charge. But she’s not the only local whose eye has settled on the cynical author.

From this cast of somewhat unsympathetic, yet utterly compelling characters, MacIvor spins an aesthetically rich and satisfyingly disquieting story about the unwavering, ubiquitous human desire to be with the wrong person. Carl searches for a fix to his own self-destruction in people who are potentially more destructive still. Storch does a terrific job of bringing this to life onstage. The palpable vulnerability that underpins his performance (and he’s on stage for almost every scene) rises to the challenging task of bridging our empathy to this embittered ex-80’s coke fiend.

MacIvor’s dialogue is snappy and well paced. Every bit his equals are Gee, along with Michael Dufays as the two souls caught in his wake, competing in an Orton-esque rivalry for his affections – at least, so far as they can go. Distanced from either of them is Etta Waki, Carl’s last Japanese lover, a transgender woman serving both as narrator and as representative of all the broken hearts Carl has left behind – and one gets the impression there are many.

MacIvor’s dialogue is snappy and well paced, with some genuinely interesting observations of Japanese language and culture, which add an extra layer of authenticity. The only parts that feel a touch redundant are James’ monologues, which find focus late in the piece, but struggle to connect with the central story until that point – feeling like interruptions rather than the evocative explorations of the characters’ thoughts that one suspects they’re meant to be.

There are a few of these at the top of the play. As mentioned earlier, Arigato, Tokyo is a creeper.

But given the patience it deserves, it is an exceptional one, powerful and honest, packed with characters we want to spend more time with despite their awful flaws – or perhaps because of them

by Christian Baines

EMOTIONS SIMMER TO A BOIL IN CULTURAL COLLISION

-FAB MAGAZINE

This production is one of the most visually and sonically stunning that Buddies, or any other theatre for that matter, has produced. MacIvor's patented one-man-show, pinpoint lighting is expanded into Robert Lepage territory, with entire environments conjured out of thin air on a set that initially appears stark. Both MacIvor and director Brendan Healy seem to enjoy exploring the artifice of theatre -- the ancient art of Noh theatre is not only thematically linked, but the stylization and emotional reserve are deliberately echoed and used -- and the delight that an audience feels when they've been seduced into believing.

From the moment Tyson James appears behind a scrim, he becomes a dominating force. His first entrance, a virtuoso lip-synched performance of Amy Winehouse's "Back to Black," is a false tease -- the character is a ghost, a narrator, and while James glides through the action and handles pages and pages of dialogue with aplomb, it is impossible not to watch him: this spectre has a solid physical presence. Even when playing coy or demure he is mesmerizing. And he needs to be: the long, long narrative speeches are poetic and defiantly non-linear but must be closely followed for the themes to tie up at the end.

Arigato, Tokyo is not an easy play and is not light entertainment. But like a deceptively simple bento box, it is filled with wonders carefully arranged for maximum sensual and intellectual appeal, offering ideas and images that haunt the brain and heart, surfacing long after the lights have dimmed.

by Drew Rowsome 5

tokyo sweethearts

-XTRA

Daniel MacIvor didn’t go to Tokyo in 2007 planning to write a play about the city. The celebrated Canadian theatre maker was attending a production of his 2001 work You Are Here staged by local artists. When contacted for the rights, he’d proposed adapting the play to take place in Japan, but the company declined. Keeping the play in a foreign locale, they said, was part of the intrigue for their audience.

For much of his two weeks in the city, MacIvor says, he felt like a tourist, welded to his translator and unable to speak the language. But something about the culture set his imagination alight. With the idea of stories from far-flung places floating in his mind, he concluded his next play would be set in Japan. The result is Arigato, Tokyo, a Noh theatre–inspired waltz of sex, self-destruction and redemption.

Carl (David Storch), a bisexual Canadian author struggling with addiction, finds himself on a promotional tour in the Land of the Rising Sun. Things get complicated when he falls for both his translator, Nushi (Cara Gee), and her brother Yori (Michael Dufays), carrying on simultaneous affairs between nightclubbing and book readings. Acting as narrator is the androgynous Etta (newcomer Tyson James), a drag performer who guides audience and characters alike through the world of the play.

“There’s a definite dark side to the city, where sex is something separate from love or romance,” MacIvor says. “In the West we have a confusion about this, having trouble seeing sex as a purely social activity. But in Japan, sex has an open, though polite, acceptance as part of the worlds of entertainment and commerce.”

Along with his own experience, MacIvor found inspiration in The Tale of Genji, an 11th-century text often referred to as the world’s first novel.

“It’s a book known by every Japanese student, the way Westerners might know Shakespeare,” he says. “I was struck by the open sexuality of the hero. In seeking love, he’s sexually active with many women and a few men, though no judgment is placed on his actions. There was something very modern about it.”

MacIvor’s scripts often feature thinly veiled versions of himself; Carl’s fidgety humour is quintessentially him. His struggles with love and addiction often get channelled into his work, most recently in 2011’s This Is What Happens Next.

But while he’s no stranger to the stage, for Arigato he felt compelled to hand the part he’d based on himself over to another actor.

“I identify with Carl in many ways, and much of his journey is mine,” MacIvor says. “But I felt it was important to step back and focus on being solely the writer with this play. Also, Carl needs a certain confidence that I would undermine in my tendency to self-deprecate inside a character.”

When it came to a director, MacIvor had had his eye on Brendan Healy for a while. Still relatively new at the helm of Buddies, Healy had impressed MacIvor with his production of English playwright Sarah Kane’s darkly perverse play Blasted. Though not a fan of the script, MacIvor was taken by Healy’s staging and proposed a partnership. The pairing represents a new, though somewhat unlikely, collaboration. While Healy’s made a name with visually complex, text-heavy works, MacIvor is best known for a sparse approach to both words and design.

“There’s a level of abstraction in the text I generally don’t work with, but I like the challenge of it,” Healy says. “It’s more poetic than his other plays, but I also found it very sexy. It has a bit of that Lost in Translation melancholy of a traveller away from home coupled with a conversation about what love is and what sex is. I found that combination to be quite beautiful.

“Followers of MacIvor will immediately recognize it as his script but also be surprised about where he’s going artistically,” Healy adds. “In the history of MacIvor, I feel like this will be seen as a transitional play where he’s opening up into a whole other space as a writer. I’m very eager to see where he goes next.”

6

by Chris Dupuis

DRAG MEETS DRAMA IN ARIGATO, TOKYO

-TORONTO STAR

Daniel MacIvor got on a subway car in Tokyo; Tyson James got on a plane in Vancouver. These two journeys from different corners of the globe intersected years later and the result is Arigato, Tokyo, which starts performances March 16 at Buddies In Bad Times Theatre.

MacIvor needs no introduction to devotees of thought-provoking and emotionally searing theatre. His series of one-man works like Monster and House, or his multi-character plays like A Beautiful View and Marion Bridge have shown him to be a fearless traveller through the farthermost reaches of the human soul. James, on the other hand, is best known to the denizens of Toronto’s drag clubs, where his singular creation Cassandra has proved one of the toasts of the town. Two very different artists, but each ultimately traversing the same terrain. It took Brendan Healy, Buddies’ daring artistic director and the man staging Arigato, Tokyo, to bring them together.

MacIvor first went to Tokyo “as a tourist, because they were doing one of my plays and they invited me. I stayed in a western hotel, travelled with an interpreter, it was all very nice. But I knew I wasn’t seeing the whole picture.” So he went back a few years later. He stepped onto a crowded subway train and took the last available seat, next to an elderly man.

“He looked at my face,” recalls MacIvor, “then got up and moved across the car and stood up rather than be beside me.

I looked around and realized I was the only Westerner there. It was the first time I ever truly felt like The Other. Oh I know that being gay gives you a sense of otherness, but this transcended that. “I realized that I was incapable of understanding how things worked in Japan and what motivated people. They have an ancient tradition of what life is for and what being is. I set out to understand it.” He created the character of Carl, who becomes involved in a “darkly poetic” romantic relationship. When asked if Carl is just another MacIvor surrogate under a different name, he laughs, but adds, “I’m a bit of a people pleaser; Carl doesn’t have that in his character.”

But who would guide the story and give it the unique contours it needed to combine the influences of male and female, east and west?

Enter James. Born in California, he was raised in Vancouver, which he left at the age of 18 for Toronto, enrolling in Ryerson Theatre School. And while being a serious theatre student by day, he needed an outlet for the other side of his being, so he created Cassandra, who is now one of the most popular characters on the Toronto drag circuit. “I felt like I was missing something in my creative life, then along came Cassandra. Now she’s like my alter ego. I always tell people I don’t need a roommate, I already have one. And she’s the messy one,” he says. “How do I describe her? I want to be remembered as the drag queen who smiles. There’s a lot of ferocity in Toronto among the nightlife performers. I wanted to chill that out a bit.” The two sides of James’s personality made him perfect to take on the role of Etta Waki, the guide into the show, who takes on some of the traditional functions expected of such a character in Noh theatre.

“All Noh theatre begins with a guide telling the audience where the leading character has come from and how he’s gotten there. That’s what Etta does here with Carl.”

But Etta is also a performer in a club performing scenes as Tyson’s beloved Cassandra. That’s how the two meet and how the story evolves. “Carl is a free man when I meet him and that’s what attracts me to him,” says James. “No labels.

Whenever someone asks me to describe myself, I say ‘I’m Tyson James and that’s all you need to know.’” MacIvor was instantly struck by James’s talent when he saw him perform. “He’s magnetic, he lives on Planet Tyson and he has a remarkable energy.” James returns the compliment by saying, “It’s been so exhilarating having Daniel here in rehearsals. It’s such an honour.”

No one at this point knows how this fusion of semi-autobiographical drama, Noh theatre and contemporary drag will finally play out, but MacIvor, for one, isn’t worried about the details. “One spends their whole life writing the same thing, I guess, but yet it changes over the years. The big journey I’m trying to make here is the one I’ve been on since the beginning: the journey from the head to the heart. “We can’t evolve through cynicism, even though there are times when I somehow feel it’s the closest thing to the truth.” But MacIvor prefers to give the final word to Carl, in a line from the play. “A heart is a heart.”

7

ARIGATO, TOKYO

BY DANIEL MacIVOR DIRECTED BY BRENDAN HEALY STARRING MICHAEL DUFAYS, CARA GEE, TYSON JAMES AND DAVID STORCH DRAMATURGY BY IRIS TURCOTT SET & COSTUMES BY JULIE FOX LIGHTING BY KIMBERLY PURTELL SOUND & MUSIC BY RICHARD FEREN CHOREOGRAPHY HIROSHI MIYAMOTO ASSISTANT DIRECTOR ALISTAIR NEWTON DIALECT COACH ERIC ARMSTRONG JAPANESE TRANSLATION MEIKO OTAWA