Dressed in a traditional kimono, Katsura Sunshine exuberantly holds up the hand fan, one of the key props in his solo show Katsura Sunshine’s Rakugo at New World Stages.
Katsura Sunshine’s Rakugo is a fresh and funny solo show in which the director and star, Katsura Sunshine, spins yarns with entrancing charm in the ancient Japanese comic storytelling tradition known as rakugo. It is a pleasure to come across a piece that deals, wittily and delightfully, with a little-known dramatic art form.
Sunshine, whose given name is Gregory Robic, hails from Toronto and is of Slovenian descent. In 1999, he went to Japan to study Japanese theater, and there he fell in love with rakugo. He begins by giving the audience a brief overview of the art form, initially used by Buddhist monks in the ninth and tenth centuries to make their sermons more entertaining. (Rakugo literally means “fallen words.”) Eventually, the practice evolved into the storytelling tradition, which has been passed down from master to apprentice for 400 years.
Sunshine holds up the hand towel, one of the indispensable props in his show.
The rakugo format has a three-part structure: an introduction, the story proper, and the punch line. As he relates the stories, Sunshine employs minimal movements to portray the characters, mostly relying on a slight turn of his head to the right or left, along with a subtle change of vocal pitch or gesture. The stories in his repertoire are both original and traditional, and they vary in length and subject. The shortest one, focusing on a lady who took a head-bruising tumble, is just 15 seconds long. But most of the yarns take at least a few minutes to tease out and arrive at their inevitable punch line.
Throughout the show, Sunshine attempts to demystify rakugo. He displays its two essential props, a paper fan (sensu) and a hand towel (tenugui), explaining that both objects are integral to his storytelling. With self-deprecating humor, he also shows the cushion that he is required to kneel on during a performance, first referring to it by its Japanese name and then by his own personal English moniker: punishment. Kneeling onstage, the performer, dressed in a pink kimono, looks like the harmonious embodiment of the East and the West, with his florid complexion and fair hair (now theatrically dyed platinum blond) pointing to his Slovenian ancestry.
As Sunshine explains, he is only the second Westerner in the history of Japan to become a rakugo storyteller and is one of only 800 in the world. After studying for three years with a Japanese master of the form, he was christened “Katsura Sunshine.”
The minimalist set by Mikiko Suzuki helps to reinforce the hermetic mood and atmosphere of the evening. At center stage, there is a small raised platform, with a wooden knee-hider for Sunshine to kneel behind. Directly behind this structure was a vintage candleholder that brought a wistful air to the proceedings. The whole is backed by a translucent privacy screen, lighted in soft golden hues by Yuki Nakase Link.
Sunshine, who conceived and directed his show, leaps lightly over its hurdles, often interrupting his monologue to directly address the audience. At times he interacts with the viewers, a cross-section of ethnicities, asking them to share their own background and life experiences with him: “Who has visited this show before?” “Who has actually traveled to Japan?” “Are there any Canadians in the house?”
Sunshine shares one of his traditional rakugo stories in his sit-down comedy show. Photographs by Russ Rowland.
The most memorable stories? Well, the spiel about elderly friends meeting in a hospital’s waiting room to socialize had some unforgettable gallows humor tucked in. There is a natty narrative that riffed on the 40 proper ways to say “Thank you” in Japanese. For those with strong stomachs, there is a piece on a grumpy friend who got served some rotten tofu. Sunshine performs his stories in English with splashes of Japanese, which gives the show an authentic flavor.
Although Sunshine is riveting, he sometimes tells his stories in such a quick-fire fashion that it’s difficult to keep up with him. (It’s little wonder that the actor needed his hand towel to wipe his brow several times during the show.) Uncannily, he usually can sense when this happens during the show and will backtrack in the story until he is sure that the audience is with him again.
Sunshine, in fact, is at his best when he spritzes his performance with some patter about his humorous experiences living as a Westerner in Japan. Presently, he divides his time between New York, London, and Japan. But, he says, he dreams someday of having a yose (a small Japanese theater) in the Big Apple, in which he can perform his comedic stories in a truly authentic atmosphere. One can only wish him well.
The production of Katsura Sunshine’s Rakugo runs at New World Stages (340 W. 50 Street) through December 2024. Evening performances are at 7 p.m. on the following days: Aug. 25, Sept. 1 and 22, Oct. 13, Nov. 17, and Dec. 22. The show runs 85 minutes with no intermission. For tickets and information, visit www.rakugo.lol or call Telecharge (212) 239-6200.
