Last night, I had the opportunity to see an taishu-engeki, which translates to “Light Theater” or often called “Theater for the Masses”.

The one that I went to starred Taichi Saotome, who is only 20 years old. The play was divided into 2 parts: a Play and then a Kabuki like dance segment. It started about 6:30 pm and got out about 8:45pm. Apparently, Taishu- engeki is normally like this; divided into a play section and then a dance segment that has nothing to do with the previous segment.

Though I couldn’t understand very well, what I got from the play part of it was that there was this boy who was adopted in by a bad guy who stole this girl. The boy didn’t know that the guy was a bad guy and was tricked into killing the girls real father. He ends up saving the girl and returning the girl to the real mother in the end, but getting killed by the father’s followers for killing him.

The second part of the play was a lot more enjoyable, in my opionion. I really enjoyed the dancing to more popish versions of old style Japanese music.

If you guys have the opportunity to see it, check it out! Apparently, Taichi Saotome is pretty famous for being a onnagata, a specialist in female roles. He was amazing and he came out at the end in the entrance hall dressed up in the full kimono garb. We walked passed him on the way out and he was very beautiful! I think we were the only foreigners there! It was a lot of fun!

Here is a link to Taichi Saotome’s Website: http://www.saotometaichi.com/

Please check it out!