( interview junya, shougo & yuuki for baby-san - spice 25th september 2015 )

[devilism]

Stage play 「 Baby-san ~ Or About That Funny Circus Troupe 」
an interview with Ikeda Junya, Suzuki Shougo and Izawa Yuuki!


(from the left) Izawa Yuuki, Ikeda Junya, Suzuki Shougo
The legendary stage play of the suddenly deceased genius Nakajima Ramo is revived in 2015!

From November 7th to the 14th, "Baby-san ~ Or About That Funny Circus Troupe" will be performed at the Zepp Blue Theater Roppongi. This stage play is set around the time of the invasion of Manchuria around World War 2. It's the story of various people surrounding the circus troupe that came to entertain the troops.

An interview with the people starring in this work: Ikeda Junya as second lieutenant Uchiumi, Suzuki Shougo as Bozu/Boy and Izawa Yuuki as Zou! We visited them while they were in the studio for the photoshoot for the play's pamphlet.

Tell us about the role you play.

Yuuki: I'm "Zou-san"... That role isn't an elephant, but instead it's the person in charge of taming the elephants.

(note: "zou" can also be read as "elephant", hence his remark.)

Shougo: I'm Bozu. Since Bozu is about 11 or 12 years old, it's a role that you can only have in theatre. He has impressive lines like "what a lovely horse, huh" in the script. Bozu is an orphan because of the war. Although I think many have been wounded in Manchuria, I thought Bozu still had a pure heart left because of lines like that. I was happy when I read the script. During this time of war, Bozu's existence is the last thing one can turn to where light is still shining through. I think I'll grow accustomed to the role.

Junya: My role is that of a soldier named "Uchiumi." He's a typical soldier of the Japanese army. The people of that time, especially military troops, were very much bound by a kind of group consciousness. Things that came forth from you as an individual weren't good things, it's that sort of idea. Or maybe I should say it's that they were so afraid of what others would think that they wouldn't dare to give their own opinion. Uchiumi, who I play, is also a very stiff and stubborn person. But when he meets the circus troupe, he meets various people who all have their own ideas and opinions, and he starts to waver and loses his usual way. His lines are stiff, but I want to show the important feelings behind those lines. I wonder if I'll express it well.. it's a difficult but great role.


You three have performed together before in "Hakuouki". What do you do when the three of you are together?

Junya: Messing with Izawa, right.

Yuuki: Why am I the one being messed with.

Shougo: Back then the three of us also shared a dressing room.

Maybe this time you'll share a dressing room too?! Do you all go drinking together too?

Junya: We go drinking, right? We've always been the types to go drinking. Ah! Although Shou-chan (Suzuki) doesn't calm down like that, huh. (laughs)

I believe that this is the first time you're part of G2-san's production, how is it?

Junya: Honestly, I feel nervous. When I first heard of the story and heard that I had the lead part, I said "no way!" I think that everyone who performs in the theatre world wants to be in one of G2-san's stage plays just once... But I thought, "This story can't peter out midway. I can't be struggling until the opening day of the performances. I should be happy with this." Although I still can't believe it until the words "starring Ikeda as the lead part" properly go out into the world. (laughs)

Shougo: I didn't feel nervous at all. I'm 26 years old. I've gotten to the age where not every single thing like that can just make me nervous anymore. I have to do it calmly. .. Of course I'm glad to have been cast for the play, only that makes me feel nervous too!


Izawa-san is the type that gets messed with?

Yuuki: I've been messed with by G2-san...

Junya: Izawa was the only one left out every day and he had 40 pages of faults?!

Yuuki: Now I feel bad when you say that. (laughs) G2-san is a person I only one-sidedly know of.. I saw him on TV as a kid and he gave off the feeling of a TV host. There was a similar feeling that he'd keep at it to great lengths.

Junya: I think G2-san is the kind of person who specialises in entertainment. He's good at showing the inside of people. Whether it's a musical or a translated play, he can change difficult subjects into a work that's very close to himself. He has the image of a person who can make the audience turn back into children, just like with this work. He's the director who's liked the most by the audience.

By the way, the setting of "Baby-san" is a setting where the matching animals seem to vary from person to person. What kind of animal do you think your role and you yourself seem the most like?

Junya: Hmm. What do you think?

Yuuki: I've only just come across it for the first time, Baby-san. It's that sort of script. I wonder if it'd be a fictional animal for me personally.

Junya: Like a qilin, or a unicorn?

Yuuki: Yes. I don't think it'd be an animal that is already confirmed to exist. That's my opnion.


What sort of noteworthy points are going to be shown on stage in Baby-san?

Junya: It's going to be different than the way Lilliput Army presented it on stage. I personally still can't imagine Baby-san yet.

(note: Lilliput Army is the name of a Japanese theater company. Also for the next part Shougo just seems to be lagging a question behind.)

Shougo: I wonder what.. There isn't a reason for this, it's just instinct, but.. a young deer! A strangely colored young deer! (laughs)

It'd be amusing to do a psychological test with this sort of thing, huh.

Yuuki: "Your personality seems like a young deer to me..."

Shougo: Come to think of it, my animal for fortune telling was also a young deer. (laughs)

And now for some serious conversation too. What is theater or a stage play for you personally?

Junya: I don't think of it as "work." Because it just means having fun with a professional mindset to me. Since work is when just you do just to make money or get even one yen from people. When I'm performing as an actor I have to make sure to not forget that I have to reach the audience. What sort of thing would be interesting to see to me.. I want to produce a work that I would want to see. If it doesn't seem interesting to you personally, then the people won't be able to say it's interesting either.

Shougo: I get the impression that it's like diving into a picture book. You can become a hero, you can become someone who can do karate, you can use magic, you can use a sword or become a demon or become a robot.. I like that sort of thing. Since I don't know what will be satisfactory for other people, I can't help but feel relief when I read the script and can become anything. I wonder if I'll get a handle on the "guidelines" for the role and the play. Because when I'm performing a play, Suzuki Shougo already exists, but a role also comes to life because of those "guidelines"... If I get terrible, I might quit being an actor! Maybe I'll become an invalid!

Junya: It would be no good if "Suzuki Shougo" wasn't strange as always. (laughs)

Shougo: You're breaking my heart. (laughs) When I'm Suzuki Shougo, I worry about things like what I should say and I what I shouldn't say. But I completely understand how I should act when I'm playing a role. That's why I wonder about the "guidelines."

Yuuki: This job is like dreams I've had since childhood coming true. I wanted to become a firefighter or a police officer. Because of all the experience I've gotten through my roles, the things I imagined when I was a kid have become real just a little bit through this job. Since I've been in this industry for a long while, I was able to experience things like singing and dancing at my own discretion. That's why acting, singing and dancing is such a part of me. To express the things I feel to everyone.. like Shougo-kun said, if I wasn't an actor, I don't know what I would do. I'm looking forward to being in a play with my seniors. I'll be hanging on as much as I can. Maybe I can absorb their fighting spirit.


Finally, what are you looking forward to in this time's stage play?

Yuuki: Because it's a role that I haven't done before until now, I just want to absorb as much as I can. I'll think a lot about how my role will be seen in Baby-san so that it can become the spice.

Shougo: I'm looking forward to being able to once again be part of a new kind of theater. Ramo-san's theater and G2-san's theater are different from Nishida Shatner-san's theater I was part of recently. I'm really glad that I can experience a new kind of theater once again.

Junya: .. those two have already said everything. (laughs)

Shougo: How about Tama-chan?

※ Tama-chan is the character that makes second lieutenant Uchiumi's heart start to waver.

Junya: Ah! I want to get along well with Tama-chan. Although there's love being shown in this play as well, it's a kind of undescribable beauty like a Taisho era romance. Even so, it's sweet and sour and adult-like. It's fun since I've never played out that sort of love story before!

( link to the original )