Mukashi, Mukashi; Once Upon a Time, currently playing at the Theatre Centre, is a collaboration between two companies; Toronto’s CORPUS and Osaka’s KIO.  It explores two characters who feature prominently in the folklore of Europe and Japan; the wolf and the crane.  This is done via a playful exploration of two well known folk tales; Little Red Riding Hood and the story of the Crane-Woman who weaves miraculous cloth.

The former gets the most comprehensive treatment with the story being told from multiple angles using the four traditional styles of Japanese theatre plus a “Looney Tunes” interlude and an American style reality TV show in which Mrs. Wolf confronts LRRH and her grandmother.  It’s varied, fast paced, demands a wide range of skills from the performers and is very, very funny.  The story of the Crane-Woman is a little more low key but achingly beautiful featuring some gorgeous dance moves.

The cast is immensely multi-talented.  Kohey Nakadachi plays the Wolf most of the time and manages to be both threatening and a bit pathetic.  He’s also hilarious as the utterly crass reality show host.  Takako Segawa and Sakura Korin play so many roles I could’t keep track.  Everything from being Bunraku puppets to manipulating them.  Kaitlin Torrance is the Crane-Woman and her movements in this sequence are achingly beautiful.  She’s also very funny as the trashy, gum chewing Mrs. Wolf.

There’s so much movement in this show.  All four performers display a lot of athleticism as they execute very varied and complex choreography.  They are pretty handy at origami too.  David Danzon’s direction keeps everything moving seamlessly even though it really is a series of vignettes.  That’s supported by most effective sound design (Anika Johnson) and lighting (Yann Becker).  There are also some very clever costumes (Atsuko Kiyokawa) which work well for all the different styles and moods.  Most, but not all, the dialogue, is in Japanese but there are English and French surtitles.

By turns moving, funny, silly and beautiful but never dull this show lasts a very short sixty minutes.  It’s designed to be enjoyed by adults and children and it clearly was last night.  It’s playing at the Theatre Centre until the 29th.

Photo credits: Yoshikazu Inoue