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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Sunday, November 2, 2003

Kumu Kahua's 'Obake' is convincingly terrifying

By John Wythe White

 •  'Obake'

Kuma Kahua Theatre

8 p.m., today, Thursday through Saturday and Nov. 13-15, 20-22, 28 and 29; and 2 p.m. Sunday and Nov. 9, 16, 23 and 30

$16 general admission, $13 for seniors and $10 for students

kumukahua.com or 536-4441

Playwright Edward Sakamoto may live in Los Angeles, but his heart and soul seem to dwell perpetually in Hawai'i.

Most of his plays have Hawai'i themes, including his newest, "Obake," which is set in Kamuela, on the Big Island, in 1925.

Playgoers familiar with Sakamoto's impressive range of styles —from the sweet and sentimental ("Manoa Valley," "Life of the Land") to the comic ("Aloha Las Vegas"), hard-edged ("'A'ala Park," "Dead of Night") and surrealistic ("Chikamatsu's Forest") — will be pleased to see him take yet another stretch as he tackles a new genre: Japanese ghost story.

One caution: Don't bring kids to this play. It contains sexual dialogue, nudity, rape, murder and other acts of violence. None of this is gratuitous, but it does give "Obake" an X rating. It's an adult ghost story, more frightening and entertaining than many of the recent horror movies on the silver screen.

Director James Nakamoto's program notes tell us that the term "obake" comes from the "ba ke neko" Japanese films popular in the Islands in the 1950s. Whether or not one is familiar with these movies, Kumu Kahua's production seems to be intentionally cinematic — with melodramatic acting, eerie horror-film music, creepy sound effects and spooky lighting.

Credit goes to all involved, from the director to the cast, choreographer, designers and technicians, for taking a challenging concept and making it work.

"Obake" tells the story of Tamotsu (Marcus Oshiro), a dim braggart with no redeeming virtues, who drinks incessantly, beats his picture bride Kazue (Sun Min Chun) and bullies his friend Hitoshi (Shawn Thomson) into a series of crimes.

Fired from his job on the plantation, Tamotsu robs the local general store and takes up with Toshi (Jodie Yamada), a geisha wannabe who consorts with any married man who's willing to cheat on his wife.

The play's two leads, Oshiro and Chun, do a convincing job of transforming their characters into complete opposites: Oshiro from an evil, snarling meanie into a terrified, whimpering coward and Chun from a meek housewife into — well, not to let the cat out of the bag, something alien yet domestically familiar.

Onoe Kikunobu contributes excellent dance and movement choreography, especially in Chun's transformation.

Thomson and Nani Morita (as Hitoshi's wife, Shizue) provide skillful (and necessary) comic relief to the melodrama, and Yamada delivers a complex characterization of a potentially independent woman who seems to be trapped in the wrong time and place.

John Wythe White is active in local theater as a playwright and actor.