落語

Last night I watched Rakugo at the Lecture Hall at Chancellor's Hall UBD. It was really awesome, I never knew such Japanese storytelling can be retold quite good in English. I did watch some at NHK before, including an awesome one when a single performer, on a stage with several cushions, did a group conversation. He shifted between the cushions between lines every split-second, helped by shutting off the lights when he moves.

There were 5 acts, all 5 were really good (or I'm just too easy to be pleased) but they saved the best for last, which is a combo of rakugo, magic, puppetry and miming.

There was one point that was lost in translation; in the first act, when Oku-sama asked Konsuke how old the girl Danna-sama was seeing is, Konsuke replied "five" which he thinks she was asking how many sweetbuns he wants. This is because 'ikutsu' can be used for 'how many' or 'how old'.

Of course there may be others, but I guess comedy is, in a whole, universal. I'm glad I took the time to watch last night's show (which I nearly forgot until a chance meeting with Hanafi at the Mall) and I would love to watch it again.