Photo Credit: All Friends Photography
Quasimondo Milwaukee Physical Theatre’s latest offering, Kamikaze Cute-Sauce Cos-Play Club , is a triumph of anime drama and humor; sumptuous costumes and sets; and insightful exploration of culture, gender and power. Structured in three acts with characters that begin their journey as ordinary schoolgirls and businessmen and then transform into extravagant cos-play (costume-play) archetypes, the work supports many story threads and explores identity through diverse relationships and the layers of persona that exist within each of us. Director Brian Rott explains, “A lot of the show deals with themes of costumes—being identified by costume and gender. [In everyday life] we limit ourselves to roles but cos-play and theater represent the realty of all the different dimensions under our skins.”
This multidimensionality of persona is especially clear in a scene featuring Rachel Buth and Kath Vandenberg whom we meet as students. In cos-play world Buth becomes a brilliant assassin and Vandenberg the pilot of a fearsome mecha (robot killing machine in the form of a mammoth puppet). An incredible moment of transformation occurs when Buth realizes Vandenberg is actually under a spell and should be exorcised, not exterminated. Both actresses present their emotional journey with intensity and dynamism.
The Kintsukuroi Geisha (Jenni Reinke) and the businessman/samurai Otoko (Thom Cauley) tackle gender relations through their yin and yang archetypes, while simultaneously representing the cultural struggle between traditionalism and Westernization.
Gender relations are even more acutely interrogated in the relationship between schoolgirl Usagi Tsukino (Kathryn Cesarz) and her instructor Kakusencho (Kirk Thomsen). The two connect inappropriately and later Usagi appears again as a small, headless marionette, which Kakusencho repairs, breaks, rapes and otherwise manipulates. Three tremendously skilled kokens (Andrew Parchman, Cauley and Jeff Kriesel) smoothly collaborate to articulate the puppet until at last Cesarz takes its place. Usagi becomes a real person again, regaining her power and facing the abusive relationship as a true adult. All performances in this scene are breathtaking and the story, both haunting and inspirational.
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The play features some real Japanese, Japanese gibberish and a small sprinkling of English phrases, but the true mode of communication here is physicality. Through dance, fighting and expressive facial acting, Quasimondo once again lives up to its burgeoning reputation as Milwaukee’s premier avant-garde physical theater.
Visit thequasimondo.com to learn more about the theater’s next offering, Avenue A , which runs March 12-29.
