What I liked
The commitment of the entire company, half of whom are Fringe newcomers! They all acquit themselves admirably, giving 110% to a script that requires an incredible amount of physical and emotional energy. They so ably transitioned from comedy to drama and back again, creating an emotional arc that you hardly notice until you find yourself crying at the ending.
Particular kudos must be given to the actress Tomoko Karina, whose performance as Chief Investigator Denbei Kimura is the beating heart of the show. She commits so fully to the madcap wackiness of her character, but never loses the inner strength and determination that drives the plot to its conclusion. Thomas McKean as her reluctant partner (and erstwhile spoiler) Kumada does an admirable job matching her energy while still finding the subtler nuances in his character. Christian Lowery as her subordinate Toda has fantastic timing and physical comedy, as well as a tearjerker of a monologue at the end. Quinn Vu as the suspect Oyama is full of menace and bluster until the devastating revelation of his motivations and backstory leave you reconsidering everything you’ve seen before. Well done, all!
What I didn't like
N/A
My overall impression
I can guarantee that you won’t see anything else like this at the Fringe this year. This is the English language premiere of an absurdist dramedy by the playwright Kohei Tsuka, revered in his native Japan but little known in the US. At first glance, it’s not difficult to see why this is the case; the play leans heavily into elements of the avant-garde, introducing characters and situations without context and often veering off into vaudevillian bits, asides, and karaoke numbers (!!) just as it seems the plot will finally progress. That’s not to say that this play falls into a Beckettian recursiveness and non-action; it is, after all, a procedural about a murder case which does get solved by the end of the plays tight 90-minute runtime. But the journey to solving that murder is so strange, so zany, and so fun that to write any more about what happens would spoil it. Tsuka compared the theater to an F1 race, where there is but a second’s difference between life and death. That’s all you need to know to experience this play. Just strap yourself in and let the fabulous actors of Ensemble Tenshi take you for a wild ride.
