Rack-'o-What?

This past December, I had the honor, privilege, and stress of performing in something called the 落語会 (Rakugokai). Rakugo is a traditional…well, let’s Wiki it, shall we?

“Literally "fallen words", Rakugo is a Japanese verbal entertainment. The lone storyteller (落語家 rakugoka) sits on the stage. Using only a paper fan (扇子, "sensu") and a small cloth (手拭, "tenugui") as props, and without standing up from the seiza sitting position, the rakugo artist depicts a long and complicated comical story. The story always involves the dialogue of two or more characters, the difference between the characters depicted only through change in pitch, tone, and a slight turn of the head.”

Now back to our story: My school hosted 3 famous Rakugo masters to perform for FREE for the student body and Mitaka locals. And it was for FREE, which means you didn’t have to pay to see it. Because it was FREE! I love FREE!!! But a month and a half before the show, the Middlebury University Office of Something-or-Another called out to the international students: anyone interested in working with the comedy masters and able to perform a short skit in the Rakugo show is encouraged to join. The students who volunteered for the performance would be part of the小話集, or short story segment, of the show, so we wouldn’t have to learn a lengthy tale like the pros. Well, being the cultural nerd that I am, I couldn’t just pass this up. So I signed my name on the dotted line and then completely forgot about the entire event. Typical me. Luckily, the director of the Office of Something-or-Another was not as absent-minded as I (probably why she is the director) and emailed us two weeks before the performance, “Do you all have your scripts memorized? Practice starts on Monday at noon.” Oh, great…

It turns out the first day was more to get a taste of what we were to be doing than of actually practicing, so I was off the hook for the time being. I told the master what my story was and he immediately acted it out in four different versions, each time changing the characters’ ages and speaking patterns. He. Was. So. Funny! No wonder why he’s famous! He took my stupid little punny-joke and made me laugh out loud four times in a row!!! All he did was look this-way and that-way, wave his hand around a bit and do lots of super-inflection on the words, but in that stage-performance sort of way were if it isn’t overdone, then it just looks flat.

And what was the silly snippet I was to perform? In English, it goes a little something like this:

Woman 1: Did you hear? I got something wonderfully useful!

Woman 2: Oh, really? What is it?

Woman 1: It cooks, cleans, washes laundry, and goes shopping for you.

Woman 2: What?! I’m so jealous! Say, where do you buy something like that?

Woman 1: Buy? Why, you don’t have to buy it!

Woman 2: Eh…what do you mean?

Woman 1: Because that wonderfully useful thing is my husband. ;) (Hahahaha, no really, that’s the whole joke, and I had to smirk at the end – that was part of the skit)

Flash forward two weeks, and I’ve worked with the masters for quite a bit, have my skit memorized and everything is good. But on the day of the show, they still didn’t know what I’d be wearing. One master said that since most Rakugo professionals were men, I should wear a man’s kimono. “Besides,” he argued, “it looks very tough and cool when a woman wears a man’s kimono.” “True, true,” replied the younger master, “but shouldn’t she wear a lovely, woman’s kimono instead? She is the only female performer and it would be good to offset the men’s outfits, I think.” The last second decision was made for me to wear a woman’s kimono, so they had another famous person (who I was never told) lend me her kimono to wear. Putting this thing on was such an event, let me tell you, because only the older master knew how to tie the belt! The director of the Office of Something-or-Another was kind enough to help me dress in the undergarments, but when it came to the main layers, we had to call in the professional to wrap, tighten, tie, and adjust all the layers of belt that are apparently needed. Always trust the Japanese to overcomplicate things. And this poor man not only helped dress me (which was equivalent to 10 minutes of solid cardio exercise), but he had to help dress all the boys, too. By the time he came out of the dressing room, he was out of breath, stumbling around, and dog-tired.

Right before the performance, the international students were interviewed for the school news, which is the only reason why I have these pictures from the event. Later, I bumped (figuratively) into a Wadaiko member who was working as part of the stage crew. She took a picture of me and sent a message out to the rest of Wadaiko club to try and get them to support me. A few of them did come on such short notice, but I had been too embarrassed to mention it to them before so most of them asked me to perform it again for the club at a later date. The show itself was really fun! I was the first to go, but I got a great response from the audience (mostly female members, I’m guessing). The other boys gave it their best, too, and it felt great to finally perform what we’d been working on all this time. After that, I got to watch the rest of the show. In between the Rakugoka was a comedian who is known for cutting paper. Trust me, it is funnier than it sounds.

All in all, it was great fun and I'm glad that I signed up for the chance to do this. That's part of studying abroad, right? Doing things that you don't have a chance to do otherwise. I don't plan on going pro in Rakugo, but it was nice to get a few laughs.