Peekaboo

It is summer holidays in Japan and there are festivals everywhere you go. Japan loves it’s festivals and they take on many shapes and sizes. Each town has its traditional ‘Matsuri’ (Festival) which generally involves the men in the town gathering to cry ‘Washoi! Washoi!’ as they carry large decorated floats through the town wearing nothing but loincloths to the local Shinto shrine. Then there are the fireworks festivals, these take place during the summer and young and old gather by riverbanks to delight in these brilliant displays, wearing ‘ukatas’ (summer kimonos) and waving ‘uchiwas’ (fans). There are all kinds of festivals: rock festivals, beach festivals, full moon festivals and of particular interest to me this visit, children’s festivals.

I have travelled to Tokyo with the Kazenoko Kyushu for a performance of their acclaimed work for zero to three year olds, Peekaboo which is being performed at a Summer Children's Festival at the Town Hall in Shibuya. The show was first created in 1985 when Kazenoko director, Ken Nakajima had just started a family of his own. With a baby and a toddler at home, he was inspired to create a show for this age group; something no one in Japan had ever done before. He told the three young actors to create an intimate show for a small audience, “This is a special show for Kazenoko- it is a true investment in this age group so I don’t mind if it makes a loss”, he said to his cast.

And it is indeed intimate. The audience sit on the floor in the round and I look across the circular playing space at the mothers and fathers nursing their small children. The atmosphere is calm but not without occasional cries, screams and toddlers who feel suddenly inspired to run across the stage. The show begins with song. Jiro, Hiroko and Saki, who are the Peekaboo ensemble, have beautiful voices and sing in sweet harmonies. All three also happen to be very cute and petite. I tell them later in the post show feedback session that I want to take them home to Australia with me…which would be easy because they would probably all fit in my 60L backpack.

The actors start by singing a sweet peekaboo song and interact gently with children in the front couple of rows leaning in close and singing ‘peekaboo!’. We learn early on when a little baby gets a fright and starts to cry that this is okay too- the actors are not unnerved, they nod in understanding and it is part of the experience. The actors play Japanese versions of “Row- row row the Boat”, holding the hands of the children, they play “Drop the hankie” and then the handkerchiefs become birds and they flutter through the audience and land on the shoulders and heads of the children. It is very interactive.

The whole experience is linked beautifully with song and half way through the show, each of the actors produce an instrument (a guitar, a violin and a cello) and as the room fills with the rich sound of the strings, everyone starts swaying. The children love the music and it soothes any cries.

The show climaxes with a story about ‘Ojisan’s Doubutsu’ (Grandpa’s Animals). Jiro-san plays the Grandpa and sits on a clever swivelling stool in centre stage and is visited by a chicken, a mouse, a lion and an octopus (all expertly physicalised by Saki and Hiroko and each unique and comic). It is a simple little story and holds the attention of the audience right through to its conclusion.

As with the other Kazenoko shows that I have seen for toddlers up, the story telling is only a small part of the show. Instead, the various forms of play and games leading up to the story occupy the bulk of the performance.

After the show I talk with the director, Ken Nakajima and he explains that apart from Jiro-san, the actors have changed many times since the first season. And as the members change, so too does the show, little by little. He explains that ‘Peekaboo’ is a very important playground for Kazenoko Kyushu actors to discover whether or not they can play with and for children. It requires great honesty, an ability to be in the moment and great sensitivity to the audience and the wide variety of reactions one experiences when performing for babies and toddlers.

Cut and paste the following link for a Peekaboo at Peekaboo!

http://www.kazenoko-kyushu.or.jp/sakuhin/peekaboo/top.htm