Tattooer by Takuya Kaneshima. Based on the short story by Junichiro Tanizaki. Charing Cross Theatre, Villiers Street, London until 26 October, 2024,

1✩. Review: William Russell.

“Azuma paints the town.”

This event, the second work presented by Umeda Arts Theatre of Osaka at Charing Cross - I hesitate to call it a play – seems from what one can discover from the programme to be somewhat removed from Tanizaki's short story and more a riff on it dreamt up by Kaneshima and the director Hogari Kara Kawai. That it should come from the land that gave us the films of Kurosawa, Ozu,or Oshima, to name but a few, the iconic monster that is Godzilla, not forgetting all those Manga comics, does take one aback. Just what is going on is never clear, but it seems that in Japan body tattoos are private and wonderful things, unlike in the west where they are for flaunting. Tamizaki's story, his first to be published, was about Seikichi, a tattoo artist obsessed with putting his soul on the body of a young woman he discovered when he caught sight of her foot peeping out of the litter in which she was being carried. No good came of it. Here the young women – the beautiful one has a companion - are bossy, hard faced and indulge the tattoo artist – a foot fetishist – while making him do chores after he has blinded himself for some reason. Part two seems to be pure Kaneshima and involves a handsome young Englishman who has come to have his body painted in the style of, or possibly by, Seikichi, But I could be wrong as by then I had no idea what was going on. The evening's highlight was the interval when on to the circular stage comes the Englishman, played by Nzomi de Lencquesaing, wearing only a pair of black shorts, who lies face down. He is followed by Gaku Azuma, an ink brush painter and after decorating the young man's back he turns his attention to the stage and covers the entire floor area with elaborate and very beautiful patterns in black ink. The audience, those who have not fled to the bar, was entranced by his work. But intervals have to come to an end and what happened once the event resumed and the women and Seikichi returned from wherever they had been along with the rest of the audience was even harder to comprehend than what had happened before the interval. One gets the feeling that for the Umeda Arts Theatre having a West End season will go down well back home no matter what. There are evenings in the theatre when one is glad to have been there because it will go down in history for all the wrong reasons and this farrago is such an evening. I gave its predecessor One Small Step, different cast and director, one star but that at least was a play of sorts. This is just an event. If you must see it, then spend the first half in the bar, go in for the interval, and then leave – the astonishing Oaku Azuma is well worth the price of your ticket.

Cast

Leo Ashizawa – Seikichi.

Mao Aono – Kazuyo A.

Aki Nakagawa – Kazuyo B.

Nozomi de Lencquesaing.

Creatives

Director & Set Designer – Hogara Kawai.

Lighting Designer – Rob Halliday.

Sound Designer – Yu Takeda.

Dramaturg & Costume Designer – Mao Aono.

Rehearsal Interpreter – Mayuko Kawai.