This post is a little late, however, this play is too good to not be posted. First of all, as soon as I went into the theater, the irrelevant music caught my attention. I expected a smooth and a calm music for the crowd to settle in. However, that was not the case, since it was a very loud and electronic music. However, when the show started, the mood changed.
The overall story line was great, filled with suspense and humor. There was a great shift in mood in the second part of the play. The ending, however, did confuse me since I expected an additional scene. It felt as if something was missing, and I left the building confused and not satisfied. However, the fact that this play only used four characters and one setting to create such an amazing product, was shocking. In addition, I found it really interesting that when the scenes ended, the lights turned off, and when the lights turned back on, the staffs were moving all the props back to where it was originally and when they left, the characters came back in again, and continued to the next scene. That was something that I have not seen previously.
I had the same reaction when I saw the staff move all the props back. I thought that they would close the curtains for a bit.
When they were removing items from the stockings I thought about all the boxes of candy canes they must waste for the play. The father has to open a new box every night the play is performed.
I am glad you liked the play. I thought that it was very well-written.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but in traditional Japanese theater (which is not always built with defined proscenium and curtain system), they have a group of people called the “kuroko” (the black child/person) who are in charge of scenery work, like the ones we saw.
As for the candy cane comment, I know by theory that it’s never wasted if it contributed in creating the reality…. but my heart convinces me that it violates the natural rights of all candycanes to be thrown away uneaten.