A review by Richard J Thornton for EXTRA! EXTRA!
20 - 30 September 2011
It's like teleporting into the set of a Terminator film spliced with a music video for some 80’s New York hip-hop act, turning up in Hackney Wick that is. Graffiti splayed upon crumbling warehouse walls, being led by the pavement-painted stencils, you turn the corner into another deserted car park to see the twinkle of the red light bulbs of The Yard and the scattered outdoor tables which announce the green shoots of art sprouting from the desolate concrete.
Manga Sister is an operatic fusion of projected Japanese anime, haunting live music and a mentally disabled wheelchair bound geriatric who's intent on stopping it all. The feeling is art studio meets minimal dance hall - white boards and screens border a taped down carpet which delineates the space, in which the disabled protagonist sits and never moves far. Ben Thapa and Katrina Waters play the chirpily incompetent nurses who frivolously taunt the mute Gerald with songs about gin, while Gerald himself falls further into Taiko (Teerachai Yaun Thobumrung) and Taisho's (Tomoe Utsunomiya) TV Manga battle.
The juxtaposition of the jaunty libretto with the graphic violence on screen is at first difficult to swallow, but as the cartoon characters take live form on stage, the two worlds are threaded and a harmony begins. The libretto itself lacks a certain delicacy, the language is tired and the character shaping is as two dimensional as the anime. The physical direction, however, is poignant and expressive; the manic shave scene accelerates the desperation we share with Gerald as his chair spins round and his face is mucked with blood and foam as the nursing duo chime 'He's a bit of a bleeder'. Introducing Gerald's wife Mrs Fordham (Laura Woods) as the brusque gold-digger is an obvious plot-step and its true contrivance is revealed later in the crowd-pleasing scene where Taisho appears wielding the severed arm of the woman still clutching her precious designer bag.
Despite a flaky plot and uninspired language, the show has an itching appeal in its design. The best moments occur when character becomes set, like Laura Woods' transformation into a moveable table and lamp, and live acting mirrors screenplay, such as Gerald's dramatic and charming transformation from feeble victim to mighty samurai.
It’s difficult to decipher the aims behind the piece; if its main purpose is to experiment with fusing art forms, then perhaps its incoherence can be excused. But this seems a shame when the production clearly displays such disciplined talent in the way of musical composition, musical performance and direction. Manga Sister has an appeal in its relaxed absurdism and multi-mediumed ambition, but one hopes that such vision and skill can apply itself to a sharper text and a clearer creative perspective.
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