Those theatergoers who dare to venture into the ominous sounding Suicide Forest will encounter an experience both surreal and deeply grounded. The title refers to Aokigahara, or Sea of Trees, located at the base of Mount Fuji. In Japanese mythology this forest has a reputation as a home to ghosts of the dead. Playwright Haruna Lee paints an unflattering picture of society through a completely unpredictable story arc.
A painting of Mount Fuji in all of its majestic beauty hangs on the wall of Jian Jung’s astonishing cartoon-like set. Before the play gets underway, a ghost named Mad Mad (Aoi Lee) is walking around. Searching? Collecting? In Lee’s play, vignettes are far from literal. The two main characters of this play are Asuza, portrayed by the playwright, and Salaryman (an excellent Eddy Toru Ohno). Asuza is a sixteen year old schoolgirl. Salaryman is a much older white collar working man in his sixties.
Salaryman discusses a myriad of topics with a unnamed “Friend” (Keizo Kaji). Men are carnivores and meat lovers. Suicide is a coward’s way. These men are victims of changing cultural mores particularly as they concern females. Friend asks, “What’s up with women these days?” Salaryman notes that you cannot even ask that question anymore without being fired. These guys don’t want to become part of the new generation of herbivore men.
An Office Lady (Yuki Kawahisa) lets Salaryman know there are very young girls here to see him. They have come for an interview. Reality turns to fantasy and perhaps to dreams and nightmares. Office Lady flirts aggressively with the older man. Is she young enough for him? This bizarre encounter winds up with her blunt question, “What are you thinking of in that disgusting, perverted little brain of yours?”
Sexual development and the objectification of women is front and center in Suicide Forest. This topic does not travel down a safe road here. The disturbing view into men and their thoughts add an uneasy but effective revulsion to these disjointed scenes. Are women simply wired to exchange sex for material things? Where is this play going?
In a humorous nod to Japanese game shows you may have seen on television, Salaryman will be the unwitting participant in a very public humiliation. That section seems to flesh out the man’s unhappiness as a life long submissive member of the corporate emasculating machine. Japanese belief systems are definitely on shaky ground.
Haruna Lee’s play takes many turns (some of them hairpin) and I will not spoil the intensely personal and vividly realized moments. As an artist, Lee is trying to comprehend what it means to be 50% Japanese. Sometimes 33% seems right. Other times as high as 70%. “I am also, usually, a high percentage of American too.”
There is one scene in this unique play in which goats are climbing a mountain. That part felt overly long to sit through. Most of the staging by Director Aya Ogawa cleverly embraces the fantastical sweep of the storytelling while allowing the societal observations and personal growth elements to shine.
Suicide Forest is not a play for those who have to traverse a linear path. If you are willing to be led into a dark, unknowable sea of trees, surprises – both welcome and unwelcome – will expose themselves. The effect is like emigrating to a foreign country. Reconciling drastically different cultures while uncomfortably finding your own place within them. This is meaty, risky and altogether idiosyncratic theater worth exploring and contemplating afterward.
Ma-Yi Theater Company’s encore presentation of Suicide Forest at the A.R.T./New York Theatre is running through March 15, 2020. This play was originally performed at the Bushwick Starr in 2019.
One Reply to “Suicide Forest (Ma-Yi Theater Company)”