The plays of Chikamatsu Monzaemon (1653-1724), who is often called Japan's Shakespeare, are a staple of the kabuki world and countless productions of his work have been staged over the centuries. However, actor Rintaro Haryu is determined to make his interpretation of Chikamatsu a unique one.
Working from Chikamatsu's "Onna Gorishi Abura-no Jigoku (The Woman-Killer and the Hell of Oil)," Haryu has transformed this four-hour kabuki play into a 1 1/2-hour, one-man, bilingual drama. In his performance, Haryu will not only play the roles of 15 characters, but also deliver his lines in English and Kamigata-kotoba, an Osaka dialect spoken during the Edo Period. In April last year, he presented a version in which only Kamigata-kotoba was used.
The 43-year-old actor says he is performing in English to broaden the appreciation of Japan's theater master.