Hello!

As some of you already know I went to Osaka last week to watch the Mishima Double stage plays.
What does "Mishima Double" mean? Well, "double" just refers to the fact that there were two stage plays and "Mishima" is refering to Yukio Mishima who wrote those stage plays.
Yukio Mishima wrote a lot of stage plays, books etc., was homosexual and performed Harakiri (suicide) in 1970. Please refer to the link I provided to read more about his life and work.

The two stage plays I went to see were "Madame de Sade" and "My friend Hitler".
I'll write about them in greater detail in a minute.
First, let me tell you that those were my first stage plays in Japan ever! The reason why I wanted to see them was obviously Ikuta Toma! I've only seen Toma live once so far when he came for a stage greeting for his movie "Seaside Motel" last year in Osaka - and that was only for a few minutes! This time I got to see him for almost 3 hours in each play (that's almost 6 hours of Toma = me happy fangirl!)



The theater was right next to Osaka Castle Park, opposite to Osaka-jo Hall.
The first stage play was "Madame de Sade" on Thursday. It roughly started at 13:30 and was over shortly after 17:00! Quite a long stage play, huh?



The name of the theater is "Theater Brava". It was my first time there, but it's really easy to find and only a short walk from Osakajo-koen Station on the Osaka Loop Line.
I left early from where I live by Shinkansen and arrived in Osaka around noon. I was hungry and I wasn't sure if you were allowed to eat inside the theater (you were! There were lots of people in the lobby eating!), so I sat down next to the river and ate lunch quickly.
I was sitting on the opposite side of the river, but I could see the theater and as soon as it turned 13:00 and the doors opened all the Japanese ran inside! They were already lining up quite early. Something I don't understand as all of us had tickets with assigned seats anyways?! Oh, well.
I finished my lunch and then also went off.



In front of the entrance was this huge poster and everybody stopped to take photos here! ^-^



Toma looked so scary on that poster ... especially with the blue eyes they gave him o___O; .....



It wasn't that chaotic inside. They were selling the program for both stage plays for 2000yen (expensive!! ;o; ..) and the scans/pictures you'll see in this entry are all taken from that program!
(If you want permission to use them, please ask me first, thank you!)



This first day my seat was in the second floor as I decided to get a cheaper ticket for that one.
There were cheaper tickets for the 2nd floor (9000yen) and more expensive ones for the first floor (11.000yen). I got the more expensive one for the next day, though.
Anyways as you can see I was quite far away from the stage. This is not new. When I went to Toma's stage greeting last year I was sitting in the LAST ROW!!!! I barely could see anything!
This time it was similar, though, it wasn't the last row. I think there were 4 rows still behind me [insert desperate laughter here ].
Luckily I brought binoculars!! With them I could see the actors expressions clearly!! (^____^)

What hurt me the most was that there was one empty seat down in the 1st floor in the FIRST ROW!!!! Come on!!!! ;_____________________; ...... *sigh*


"Madame de Sade"

This was definitely the more difficult stage play. I also have to admit that I had problems staying awake at times. People around me started falling asleep and were snoring, OI!!! (T___T) ....
That wasn't really the stage play's fault, but the theater's! The air was really sticky and hot. I'm not sure if they used an air-conditioner at all! Stuffed with so many people in one room for over 3h just makes you sleepy! Of course there were 2 short breaks inbetween, but still ...



As Toma didn't have the leading role in this stage play it took quite a while until his first appearance at stage.
At first there were two older actors on stage for over 30min. until a younger guy (of course all dressed up as women) entered and people suddenly started squealing and clapping, so I thought it's finally Toma's turn! But the minute I heard his voice, I knew it wasn't him. I confirmed with my binoculars and it was:



Higashiyama! He also seems to have a lot of fans and I have to admit he did a great job, but I came there for Toma anyways, so sorry Higashiyama!! XD



As all those pictures are from the rehearsal they don't wear make-up or wigs and I have to admit they all look extremely strange on those photos!
However, during the real stage play they all looked really good! Especially Toma looked so cute and all of their gestures and even their voices were extremely feminine. It didn't seem too strange!
Thanks to my binoculars I also saw that they were wearing nail polish! Toma had pink nail polish!!! (*____*)b



I also adored the dresses they wore!! They changed a lot. I remember that Toma wore 4 different dresses! The first one was pink and I heard people saying during the first break that pink really suits him. One was the peach colored dress you see in some of those pictures. Another one was lightblue and I think the last was somewhat purpleish.

This stage play consisted of 6 people, but mainly on stage were the 4 that also played in "My friend Hitler".

Let's talk about the story a little bit (unfortunately I didn't have time to inform myself much about this as there was a big earthquake in Japan - as you probably all know - and so I wasn't sure if I even could go and watch the stage plays at all!).
The story takes place in France of the 18th century.
What makes this stage play special is that Marquis de Sade (who really existed) was homosexual and tried to hide it by marrying (just like Yukio Mishima as well - probably one reason why a Japanese person like him was so fascinated about a French person of the 18th century!).
"With their shared interests in sex, pain, and the beauty of death, the post-war Japanese imperialist and the so-called "father" of the French Revolution make ideal bedfellows. De Sade does not, however, appear in Mishima's play, which spans a period of 18 years over three acts. Instead his character is explored through the drawing-room conversation, or rather what Mishima called the ''collisions of ideas'', between six cultivated women in the marquis's inner circle. They include his loyal wife, Renee (Higashiyama), Madame de Sade; her deceitful sister, Anne (Ikuta Toma), who has also been de Sade's lover; and her disapproving mother, Madame de Montreuil. Three further figures add their own opinions to the play's polite conversation about perversity." (source: The Telegraph)



The leading part in this stage play is without a doubt the wife of Marquis de Sade: Reneé (Higashiyama) - I always heard "Rune", though, as their pronunciation for French names wasn't that good, I guess XD
The whole stage play is mainly about others, especially the mother of Reneé, trying to convince her to give up on the Marquis who's in prison at that time (and for many years), but Reneé refuses to do so.
Alphonse (= Marquis de Sade) is the main topic and when Reneé at the end of part one says: I am Alphonse (Mishima Yukio wanted to probably say: I'm Alphonse) - I was really confused at that point, though.
It's not that the Japanese was too difficult (though I was far from understanding EVERYTHING), but I'm 100% sure that even in German I would have had severe problems as it's quite a profound stage play.

"Mishima's inspiration for Madame de Sade was less the charismatic character of the marquis himself than the masochism of his wife, Renee. If de Sade is a "monster of immorality", Renee reasons, then "I must be a monster of devotion". Her devotion took on a curious twist in 1790, when, having remained loyal to her husband for 18 years of his imprisonment, she promptly left him as soon as he was released. In the play's electrifying final scene, Renee praises her husband's creation of ''an impenetrable cathedral of vice'' and claims that with his steadfast devotion to the cause of Eros he has built himself ''a back staircase to Heaven''. But while she applauds his ideals, she is appalled by the man." (source: The Telegraph)
There was also a somewhat visual erotic scene performed by Higashiyama. It looked a bit like masturbation, but don't worry nobody took off their clothes or anything. (Probably if I got to see Toma naked I wouldn't be able to sit here and right about it anyways! )



Toma as the younger sister Anne, didn't have a major role in this role play and I really had problems recognizing him as Toma at all. First of all because I was so far away and then also the make-up and dress-up was just too perfect!
So, all in all it was an OK stage play, but I was also a little bit disappointed. I wanted to see more of Toma and the whole stage play was really difficult, too.
I enjoyed the nice dresses the most, I guess.







Let's move on to the second stage play which I watched on Friday. 19:00-22:00 (roughly!)
As it was Friday night it was a lot more crowded this time! I even saw suspicious guys with signs in front of the theater asking if anybody still needs tickets.
This time my seat was in the first floor (more expensive ticket), almost in the last row again (I'm not a very lucky girl with these things ....), this time 3 rows behind me.
The feeling in the first floor was completely different, though! You were on the same eye-height with the actors and everything seemed a lot more .... "personal".
That fact alone already made me happy!!!

"My friend Hitler"

I think I was the only foreigner in there ... and I'm 100% sure I was the only GERMAN person in there! How I wish the actors would recognize that there's a German person watching there stage play about German history! I'm sure they would have been happy! :/
And what was best about this stage play, of course, Toma had the leading role! He was Hitler! Although I was extremely scared to see my beloved Toma as Hitler , I'm so glad I went!




First, let's talk about the story:

The play takes place 1934 in the "Reichskanzlei" and there are only 4 actors:
Adolf Hilter (Ikuta Toma), Ernst Röhm (Higashiyama), Gregor Strasser and Gustav Krupp.
For Mishima Röhm's the actual hero, Hitler is not seen in such a good light (luckily ...)!
The story in much more detail can be read here (in German only, sorry)!
The three other actors talk about or with Hitler about German's future and what shall be done from now on etc.
This stage play can be seen as opposite to "Madame de Sade". In "Madame de Sade" Mishima distresses the female virtues such as loyality and trust whereas in "My friend hilter" he distresses the male virtues: friendship and loyality.



That said let's talk about the stage play itself and how I experienced it.
First of all, please note that all the scans here are from the rehearsal, they are not in full costume! Toma's hair was completely different (Hitler-like) and he also had a mustache then! Also, he had make-up on his eyes as well, smoky eyes = smexy on Toma!
Yet, it was easy to recognize him as Toma this time. Being on same eye-height was absolutely awesome!
His gestures were appropriate and sometimes I really thought that it's Hitler on stage. Toma's acting skills are great!!!! He even spit around when talking hectically! I felt sorry for the girls in the first row and at the same time was so jealous! ;o;
At some point, towards the end of the stage play, when Hitler completely freaked out Toma made a lot of spastic movements and even started drooling! It was soooo awesome (and a bit scary XD). His crazy laughter was great and absolutely convincing, too!
There were several scenes when he looked around in the audience and with my binoculars it seemed a few times that he looked directly at me (not possible I was too far away and had binoculars in front of me anywas), but that gave me some REALLY HAPPY fangirl moments



The actual main role goes to Röhm, but more stage time had Hitler (aka Toma) in the end, so this was definitely the better play for me!
And not only that!!! Toma even spoke a little bit of German!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I almost died!!!!! So awesome!! Of course the pronunciation was off and all, but YAHOOOOOO!!! (^____^)v
There was a lot of German stuff coming over the loudspeakers every now and then and I thought it was funny that I was probably the only person in there who'd understand what's going on ;P
(btw. Toma if you need a German teacher, just come and ask me, okay?^^; ...)

Actually I was surprised that there was no squealing during the show, because HELL THERE WAS SOME BL GOING ON THERE!!!!!



This is just one of the many moments when they touched each other! During the real stage play Higashiyama had blonde hair. Even with binoculars I couldn't see if it was just a wig or if he really died his hair! In "Madame de Sade" he had of course a wig, so I really can't tell.
Also, his eyebrows were blonde, too! Toma's eyebrows looked strange ..... I guess they covered up everything with make-up and then drew him new eyebrows to make him look a bit scarier / more Hitler-like!
I remember that Toma started to sweat a lot towards the end of act 1. No wonder! He was on stage from the first second on and he had the most text in this stage play and as hectic Hitler he moved around way too much! He had to speak so fast, especially during the parts when Hitler was freaking out or trying to convince s.b. about his ideas. He didn't make any mistakes even once!!! Also, they didn't seem to use microphones, but yet Toma's voice was so loud that we clearly could hear him in the last rows as well. His voice and pronunication was better as those of one of the older actors!! Go Toma!!
And what's more is, Toma was singing a little bit, too!!! It was so great!! ;___; I have never heard Toma singing live so far!!! Soooo happy!!!!!~ (He sang together with his "best friend" Röhm!)



Compared to "Madame de Sade" I liked this stage play a lot more! It was easier for me to understand, there was a lot of eyecandy, Toma was on stage almost all of the time and I had a better view from the 1st floor, too!
The encore calls were much more intense for "My friend Hitler". While they reopened the curtain only twice during "Madame de Sade" and only a few people stood up, they got complete standing ovations for "My friend Hilter". This time some girls also waved in hope that Toma(? or maybe Higashiyama?!) would see them. I didn't. I was too far away anyways. I was so proud of him, though!! ;____; Such a great job!
This was really a role again where he could show what he can do!! Go, Toma!! (^___^)v



There were a lot of girls and women, of course, but also some guys! During "Madame de Sade" I was sitting next to two grandmothers! I doubt they came there for Toma, though ;)
During "My friend Hilter" I sat next to a guy who was probably about my age. He was there alone. I wonder why he came. Maybe he was interested in German history? Or ... Toma? ;P
Most of the girls rushed outside during breaks to refresh their make-up which is something I can't understand ... maybe unless they sit in the first two rows. It's completely dark in there anyways!
I'm pretty sure that there were fans who were waiting afterwards around the theather building for Toma to come out, but I have no idea.
Most of the people went back to the station, though (me2!).



In the end I'm really glad I went. I mean ... when do you ever have a chance to see Toma live for around 6h??!!! It was quite expensive to go there, 2 nights in a hotel + 2x Shinkansen + 20.000yen for the tickets .... but it was really great!!!



Someone who can't even hide that he's hot when he plays Hitler while drooling and spitting, MUST BE SOME HANDSOME GUY, right???!!!
The shows I went to were the next to last shows! They had to do both stage plays only one more time on Saturday and yesterday. I wonder if they did something special during their last shows (anybody went?!).
Otsukaresama, Toma! I bet he's exhausted now! Ever since the beginning of February they've done those stage plays and I bet he didn't have much free time. I suppose that the dressing up process (esp. for "Madame de Sade") took a few hours, then the stage play itself takes over 3h every day etc. ....
All of them had clear voices, I was surprised that none of them was the slightest bit hoarse! While a lot of (annoying) people in the audience couldn't stop coughing and sneezing, the actors seemed to be perfectly fine! They must have some secret! How can you shout around for 3h straight every day for almost 2 months and still have a voice like that?! Toma and Higashiyama also smoked during "My friend Hitler" on stage during a breakfast scene!! ;__; .... (doesn't like guys who smoke ..)
They also didn't look exhausted at all. I hope they enjoyed doing the stage plays!
Also, there have been announcements before the stage play that an earthquake might occur and what we're supposed to do if that happens. Also, that the stage play will be cancelled if one occurs. Luckily nothing happened!

That's all. I hope you enjoyed my report!
I hope I can see Toma in a musical next!
Thanks for reading!