Friday, January 10, 2020
An Unlikely Master of an Ancient Japanese Art Form
Theatre Development Fund – TDF: How did Katsura Sunshine, a white guy from Canada, become a master of rakugo, a traditional Japanese form of storytelling? It's a quirky tale which he recounts with self-deprecating humor along with fables in his "sit-down comedy" solo show Katsura Sunshine's Rakugo, currently at New World Stages.
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3 comments:
The opening sentence of this article drew me in. I feel like it is difficult to find examples of one culture adopting the culture of another, and receiving a positive response. Sunshine took that statistic and heightened it as a part of his schtick. I especially think it is funny how he dyed his hair to "appear more foreign". He embraced that this practice of an ancient Japanese art form is not a part of his Canadian culture, and instead of trying to conceal that, he made his cultural distance from the origin of this art form a part of his act. Not only would I love to see him perform, I am eager to see him perform to other practicers of this art form who are Japanese. His comment about their receptions of him as a performer implied that there were some people who did not accept him, so I am interested to witness that first hand. Overall, I think that the premise of rakugo is joyful and wholesome, and that it was created to fuel comedy and sheer happiness.
There are many forms of art such as poetry, play, novel, and anthology, which is all about language. I believe that in any of the listed forms, comedy is the most difficult genre to deal with. You have to know the language enough, so that people will not laugh at you, but at the contents. Obviously, language is not only about grammar and vocabulary in this case; it includes cultural, historical, political, and all other kinds of backgrounds that are included in the context in the language. I am still having a difficult time in finding American comedy shows funny, because I often do not understand the contexts and memes behind it. Therefore, I highly respect Katsura Sunshine for his high language ability. I watched some of his rakugo performances on YouTube, and I thought he combined Japanese traditional rakugo with jokes about foreigners in Japan very well. Most importantly, I loved how he performs truly conveys his genuine love and respect towards the Japanese culture.
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