Complicite/Simon McBurney's 'Shun-kin'

LM

Life is a bitch named Shun-kin. This performance married sound, lighting and movement in a consistently imaginative way. It was fascinating to see how the characters unfolded: as they aged a new (older) actor/puppet would take over the role and each transition was smoothly executed and did not feel abrupt in any way. In general the piece had a good flow, but the whole surtitle-business was hard to accept, as they constantly spoke (my Japanese is a little rusty) and left only a few moments of silent action - ah, what a relief those moments were for my neck.

RH

You cannot go wrong with a post-modern candlelit Japanese play about a lifelong sadomasochistic relationship between a male servant and his female master (Well, you can if you get front row seats out to the side and have to alternate between the English surtitles and the action on stage, until you look like a stupid tennis-referee). For a large part of the piece, the girl is played by a puppet, which, by the way, engages in some pretty kinky sex-acts on stage. How brilliant is that? The play, being Japanese and all, explores the dark creatures that lurk in the shadows of the human soul, echoing Shusaku Endo’s ‘Scandal’ or every single photo ever taken by Nobuyoshi Araki. This is good subject matter in itself, but wrongly executed it can be very embarrassing indeed. The play never felt embarrassing.

Shun-kin by Complicite / Simon McBurney 30 January 2009 - 21 February 2009 Barbican Theatre