Realism on the Japanese Stage.

South Canterbury Times, Issue 8131, 15 January 1895, Page 4

Realism on the Japanese Stage.

Japanese theatrical managers are quick to take advantage of public excitement and turn it into dollars. They soon transferred scenes from the field of. war to their stages. The Japan Mail tells some amusing stories of these theatrical combats : —lt need hardly be said that the Chinese commanders and troops make a very poor show on the stage; The marching of the troops, the blood and gunpowder, and the terrific combats, raise the enthusiasm of the Japanese spectators to the very highest point. On one occasion, As the actor representing the Chinese general was flying along a curious prolongation of the stage peculiar to Japan,a man sprang from one of the boxes in the pit, seized the supposed Celestial, and proceeded to give him a sound thrashing, crying out that lie was a real Chinaman and not a disguised Japanese. The disguise being torn off in the struggle, the enthusiast was undeceived, and was compelled to apologise then and there. The actor, however, so far from resenting the, treatment, regarded it as a great compliment to the skill of his make-up and the accuracy of his acting. A week or two afterwards a precisely similar incident occurred. In one scene, we are told, some Japanese soldiers are surprised by a mob of Chinese in ambush, and have to fight desperately. As it seemed likely that the Japanese would be annihilated, two spectators sprang from the pit to the stage and began hitting out right and left with'so much vigour that the pseudoChinese went down like ninepens. This time the audience did not take it as a joke, and the excited pair were promptly escorted by the police to the place where they would have an opportunity of cooling down. So convincing, however, was the acting, that for the third, time, shortly afterwards,, the spectators lost their sense of time and place and plunged into the fray. In one of- the scenes a Chinese general is attacked by a number of Japanese troopers, and, obviously in order to make this action more interesting, the Chinaman fights with great skill and valour, and the combat seems undecided. “ This bit of realism,” says the Mail, “ never fails to call forth yells of rage from the audience, who cover the Chinaman with abuse, and grow indignant if his assailants are not promptly victorious.” One night a lusty countrynian was present, and enraged beyond measure at the seeming success of the Chinese general, he sprang on the stage, seized the. actor, beat him unmercifully before anyone could interfere, and finally flung him into the pit, where he fell unconscious. Again the actor when he recovered took the incident in good part, and a vernacular journal improves the occasion as follows :—“ If our brave countrymen can act so courageously in mimic warfare, and so successfully hold their own against the enemy, how great must be their valour on the actual field! The Chinese must melt away before them like dew beneath the sun’s rays.”