In the world of theatre, murder mysteries are a dime a dozen - so what better way to spice one up than to throw in a samurai?
That's the thinking behind Rashomon, a play based on the 1950 Japanese film directed by Akira Kurosawa, which in turn is based on a 1915 short story by Ryunosuke Akutagawa - which is being performed April 14-16 at the Letkemann Theatre by the R.D. Parker Collegiate drama department.
Named after the Rashomon Gate, which is the primary setting of the play, Rashomon is a murder mystery with a twist. "The play revolves around an incident that happens in the forest," explains RDPC drama teacher David Boyce. "A bandit attacks a samurai and his wife. The samurai is killed, the wife assaulted and the bandit captured. In court, three different stories are told. A priest, a woodcutter and a wigmaker must sort through the tales and help the audience find the truth of what happened."
RDPC's interest in the play extends well past the drama department - the cosmetology department has designed traditional Kabuki makeup for the cast, while parts of the set, including the Rashomon Gate itself, are being built by the carpentry and theatre management students.
Other parts of the set are being reused from past RDPC events, says Boyce, including the bridge and its platforms, which are from past proms. The 30 trees used in the set came from Manitoba Conservation, and on March 21, were festooned with 18,000 origami leaves which had been folded by Grade 7 and Grade 8 students from across the city
The film version of Rashomon was well known not only for being the first Japanese film to have a major impact on the Western world - it received an honourary Oscar - but also for being one of the first films to use the concept of an unreliable narrator, where all characters have a different recollection of events.
This is the second major production of the year for the RDPC drama department - they performed The Diary of Anne Frank earlier this year to a great reception. Tickets for the show at $7, and can be purchased at TD Bank, CHTM, Co-Op Gas Bar, and RDPC.
CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story stated that the RDPC drama department performed Shakespeare's Taming of the Shrew earlier this year to rave reviews. While the reviews for the drama department were indeed positive, any reviews for that particular play would have been raving mad, as the play performed was The Diary of Anne Frank.
