Owen's Review
A rough
thundery sea swirled and hit the bow of the ship. Suddenly, the ship crashed
against the rocks of a far of land called “Japan”.
Based on a
true story, the samurai on patrol found William Adams and his crew ship wrecked
on their land. At the time, Japan was part controlled by Christian Jesuits who were
worried that Adams would affect their influence so they tried to get the entire
crew crucified as pirates. The shogun, Layasu asked to see Adams because he was
curious to hear about the other side of the world he was particularly
interested in the Spanish and English weapons.
The first
lord of Japan had died and his son who is only seven years old is now in
charge. His mother, Yododono hates leyasu and supported by the Jesuit
Christians, declares war on him. Whilst at war Adam’s skills with cannons and
his special technique at firing two cannons at once wins Leyasu the battle and he
is rewarded the title of Anjin, samurai.
Anjin marries a Japanese lady and abandons this wife in England.
After
fourteen years of peace a final battle is declared and lady yododano is
defeated for the last time the new shogun becomes the new leader and sets a
strict policy that no Christians are allowed in Japan.
When I watched
the play I didn’t expect it to be a comedy. I expected it to be heroic plots
and characters. However Anjin played by Steven Boxer was like a pantomime
actor. I quite liked the priest played by Yuki Furukawa because he was very
expressive. The mother played by Yoki Sadadana was a powerful actor because she
was good at expressing emotion. The scenery was poor because it was a cliché
representation of Japan. They even had cherry blossom trees inside the palace.
The tickets were over priced at £60 for my mum and me (which included a
discount). This means the theatre is
only accessible to the wealthy. Over
all, I was disappointed and would not recommend the play.
