Theatre reviews: Confessions of a Shinagawa Monkey | Now That's What I Call a Musical

Vanishing Point’s Confessions of A Shinagawa Monkey is a stunning piece of total theatre, writes Joyce McMillan

Confessions of a Shinagawa Monkey, Tramway, Glasgow ★★★★★

Now That’s What I Call A Musical, King’s Theatre, Glasgow ★★★

Just before the pandemic, five years ago, Matthew Lenton and his Glasgow-based Vanishing Point company staged a magnificent new stage version of Kafka’s Metamorphosis, created in partnership with an Italian company.

It dwelt, as the story demands, on themes of “othering”; and now five years on - and after the re-election of a US president for whom “othering” has been the key to power - the company continues its exploration of the theme, working this time with the short stories of acclaimed Japanese writer Haruki Murakami, and once again using the metaphor of a figure part human and part animal to explore how the experience of being “other” plays out across the range of human experience, from employment and conditions at work, to delicate and difficult matters of love and desire. Co-created with the Kanagawa Arts Theatre of Japan, The Confessions of a Shinagawa Monkey is performed in English and Japanese; and begins on a big Tramway stage washed with red light, where a Japanese writer is at lunch with his editor.

In the middle of lunch, the editor suddenly realises that she has forgotten her own name; and so begins a story that also involves a young Tokyo married lady called Mizuki who is experiencing similar problems, and a strange central encounter - in a run-down old inn in the mountains - between the writer and a talking monkey. The monkey claims to work at the inn, and tells the writer sad tales about his strange life caught between the animal and human worlds; some of which begin - often literally, in Simon Wilkinson’s beautiful lighting design - to throw light on the other strands of the narrative.

Sandy Grierson as the eponymous monkey with puppeteer Ailie Cohen in Vanishing Point-Kanagawa Arts Theatre's production of Confessions of A Shinagawa Monkey. | Shinji Hosono

As ever, Matthew Lenton shapes this story into a stunning piece of total theatre, with maker and puppeteer Ailie Cohen playing a key role as she evokes the monkey’s physical difference in a single, perfect physical and visual image.

Yet at the heart of the narrative, the compelling strength of this 100 minute story depends on the huge depth and energy of the three central performances, from an impressively poised and charismatic Yuya Tanaka as the writer, a wonderful Rin Nasu as Mizuki, and a breathtakingly subtle, wise and poignant Sandy Grierson as the monkey; a talking animal in love with classical music (especially Bruckner), and also with beautiful human women, whose names - in a small but subtle act of violence - are all he can ever hope to possess.

Now That's What I Call a Musical | Contributed

That longed-for human connection and its ups and downs is the lifeblood, meanwhile, of the shamelessly nostalgic juke-box show Now That’s What I Call a Musical, based round the Now That’s What I Call Music compilation album franchise, and aimed squarely at those who left school around 1989. Its twin heroines are Brummie best friends Gemma - a good girl who trains as a nurse and marries a local businessman - and glamorous April, who flies out to Los Angeles to seek fame and fortune as an actress; but by the time their 35 year school reunion comes around, life has delivered a few hard knocks to them and their friendship.

All of this, though, is often only an excuse for a score that rolls out one banging 1980s hit after another, from Girls Just Wanna Have Fun to Sisters Are Doing It For Themselves. And with Nina Wadia and Sam Taylor giving it hell as the older Gemma and April, a terrific ensemble enjoying every minute of director Craig Revel Horwood’s fun choreography, and even a special 80s guest-star moment, no-one in the packed audience gives a damn about the increasingly improbable plot; as they cheer the show to the echo, and belt out the anthems of their relatively carefree youth.

Confessions Of A Shinagawa Monkey is at Tramway, Glasgow, until 1 March, and Dundee Rep, 6-8 March; Now That’s What I Call A Musical is at the Playhouse, Edinburgh, from 25 February until 1 March.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​