Red light district

The Magic Fundoshi has been an amazing experience. Watching it will make you understand why some protective, conservative parent wrote in to the ST Forum to complain about its sexual innuendoes, and why CT said he was stunned (probably in more ways than one) when he watched it 2/52 ago. Fortunately I was mentally prepared after reading the official website which advised patrons to be at least 16 years of age and warned of adult themes and nudity.

This production is made of 3 short kyogen that are inspired by "human foibles and frailities", such as sloth and lust, but largely lust. Ha ha. Was pleasantly surprised to see the talented Glen Goei in person at the start of the show. As director of the play he had come out to warn us about the red light, which comes on once the scene turns suitably R(A). Well those who closed their eyes at the sight of the red light will probably have missed 1/3 of the first kyogen, 2/3 of the second, and the ENTIRE third kyogen, the latter which, by the way, was the most hilarious.

Was lost in the first 5 minutes of the show when everyone started to deliver their lines involving words like "predilection", "piquant" and "parsimonious". Evidently my command in English is weak, and it doesn't help that they had to talk in a Japanese accent, where L's are dropped to sound like R's. Fortunately everything became more visual (ahem, red light!) and you could possibly make out what's going on just by keeping your eyes open. Kudos to the cast for their excellent performance (including Emma Yong's cameo), and to W!LD RICE for bringing this production back since 1994.

By the way, those who are observant will notice that the publicity poster has already warned of what's in store. What looks deceptively like the moon is, in fact, someone's rear end. And the T-shape is a fundoshi, which Avarion will gladly inform you to be a male loincloth, used, no less, to conceal/support/hide one's family jewels.

Rrrrrrusty! (lusty)