UNRIVALED

I was often tickled but only occasionally engaged by the madcap antics and contemporary speak of the trio of 11th-century Japanese women whose friendship/enmity (frenmity?) Rosie Narasaki writes about in Unrivaled, now getting its World Premiere as a Boston Court Pasadena-Playwrights’ Arena co-production.

The ladies in question are a pair of real-life historical figures—poets Murasaki Shikibu (Katie Kitani) and Sei Shōnagon (Chelsea Yakura-Kurtz)—who served as ladies in waiting in the court of Empress Fujiwara no Teishi (Cindy Nguyen) back in the early 11th century .

Not only that, but both writers created works of fiction (Shikibu’s The Tale of Genji and Shōnagon’s The Pillow Book) that have endured for over a thousand years and counting.

Perhaps not surprisingly, as Narasaki’s play’s title suggests, the two women were rivals (in their search for love, the Empress’s favor, and fame, though not necessarily in that order), and precisely the kind of characters who could easily propel a historical epic in either novel, movie, or miniseries form.

Unrivaled takes a different approach, treating all three female protagonists as if they were Instagram influencers or viral TikTok stars with 2023 lingo to match.

Empress Teishi acts as our giddy guide, informing us that to become one of her ladies in waiting, a woman needed to be a talented writer who could attract the “big political muckety-mucks and fancy royals” because as she and Kelis both put it, “their poems were the milkshakes that brought all the boys to the yard!”

It’s all very cute, very Lena Dunham, and often quite funny, but cute-and-funny alone isn’t enough to make for compelling theater, and since I rarely felt invested in either Murasaki or Sei, or understood why I should care about the outcome of their rivalry, I found my mind drifting even from the get-go, even as I chuckled at the words Narasaki puts in her characters’ mouths, and even exiting the theater, I couldn’t really tell you what precisely “happened” in Unrivaled, other than that it was about two women who were rivals.

Perhaps I needed more “plot,” more of a linear storyline I could grasp onto and stay interested in.

Whatever the case, Narasaki’s gift for clever convos and the sparkling performances elicited by director Margaret Shigeko Starbuck (Yakura-Kurtz’s deliciously vain Sei, Kitani’s enjoyably envious Murasaki, David Huynh’s droll Michinaga, and most memorable of all, Nguyen’s gleefully gaga Teishi) weren’t enough to capture and hold my attention.

An all-Asian behind-the-scenes team have combined design talents to striking effect on the Boston Court stage, with special snaps to Jana Ai Morimoto’s colorful retro costumes and Yuki Izumihara’s Japan-evoking scenic design, with properties designer Jesse Soto, lighting designer Henry Tran, and sound designer Alyssa Ishii meriting their own snaps because if nothing else, Unrivaled looks and sounds great.

Letitia Chang is production stage manager and Jasmine Leung is assistant production stage manager. Lynne K. Miyake is research dramaturg. Casting is by Fran de Leon with additional casting by Raul Clayton Staggs

As someone who once spent a decade of his life learning to speak Japanese (and still watches an episode a day of a Japanese-language “dorama” to keep from getting rusty), I especially wanted to love Unrivaled, and kept hoping throughout its 90-minute running time to find my mind “at attention.” That happened only sporadically, so for this reviewer at least, Rosie Narasaki’s Unrivaled ends up more style than substance.

Boston Court Pasadena, 70 N. Mentor Ave., Pasadena.
www.BostonCourtPasadena.org
www.playwrightsarena.org

–Steven Stanley
March 25, 2023
Photos: Brian Hashimoto

 

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