Preview
GODZILLA
Mob Hit Productions
Starring Dan Perrott, Meredith Bailey, Scott Roberts and Rob Ullett
Written by Yasuhiko Ohashi
Translated by M. Cody Poulton
Directed by Lawrence Leong
Runs May 5 to 15
Vertigo Studio (Tower Centre)
AAIIIEEEE!!! Godzilla is back – and he’s heading for the Calgary Tower! Call out the army! Whip out those surface-to-air missiles!
But wait – give the big lizard a break. Sure, he’s trashed Tokyo a few times. Yes, his fiery breath has toasted the odd fleeing human now and then. And it’s true, if you don’t watch it, one of his huge, scaly feet can turn your Toyota into a tortilla. But don’t forget that giant, atomic-spawned monsters have feelings, too.
Just look to Yasuhiko Ohashi’s play Godzilla, first produced in Japan in 1987 and now being staged by Calgary’s Mob Hit Productions to mark the 50th anniversary of the original Godzilla movie.
In Ohashi’s zany horror-comedy, the big fella finds true love – and not with a female Godzilla, but with a sweet Japanese girl named Yayoi. Size doesn’t matter to this young woman and, thanks to her pure devotion, Godzilla’s become as gentle as a pet iguana – if still a bit clumsy (yikes! There goes the neighbours’ house!). It’s a timeless romance: girl meets monster. And these two starry-eyed lovers can’t wait to get hitched. Now, there’s just one obstacle – how to break it to the parents….
"This is a love story – as crazy as it sounds," says Mob Hit artistic producer Lawrence Leong, who is directing the show in the new Vertigo Studio theatre under the Calgary Tower. "The heart of Ohashi’s play is that classic story of girl brings home guy that parents hate for whatever reason, whatever prejudice you want to name."
He’s right – there’s a serious, even tender side to Ohashi’s fantasy, but he embeds it in a wacky spoof of Japanese pop culture, media and family life, complete with befuddled parents, bratty teens, a gung-ho TV reporter and a trio of legendary over-sized Japanese monsters – not only Godzilla, but also Mothra the giant moth and his wife Pigmon, an enormous cockroach. Imagine Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner remade by Toho Pictures as a sci-fi creature feature.
Although a monstrous success in Japan, Ohashi’s play had never been produced in Canada until two years ago, when Crow’s Theatre staged it in Toronto, in a new English translation by M. Cody Poulton, a professor of Japanese culture at the University of Victoria. Mob Hit found out about Poulton’s adaptation from Alberta Theatre Projects dramaturge Vicki Stroich.
"This script was a gift from (her)," says Leong. "She said, ‘I think somebody should do this and I think that somebody should be you guys.’"
She obviously knew about Mob Hit’s multimedia mandate as well as Leong’s adventurous side. "I really get off on plays like this that say, ‘OK, how are you going to do this?’," says the energetic director, whose company produces films as well as plays.
So, how are they doing it? For one thing, don’t expect a guy in a Godzilla suit. Ohashi’s script stipulates against that. Burly actor Dan Perrott (who was Darth Vader in Ground Zero Theatre’s Jedi Trilogy) will be playing the Jurassic-sized reptile, but Leong doesn’t want to reveal how he’ll do it.
"Crow’s Theatre did him as a kind of lounge lizard," he says. "We’re not doing that. You have to ask yourself what the definition of a ‘monster’ is and how you humanize that. I’m hoping the image that we’re portraying as Godzilla will serve both as a human and as a monster when we need it to, because ultimately that’s what the play’s asking you to do. It’s a challenge. At one moment, he’s a 500-foot Godzilla and, at others, he’s treated just like another person."
Leong is more forthcoming on the other techniques being used to realize Ohashi’s wild script, where scenes change with cinematic swiftness and, at one moment, Godzilla can be spewing fire or engaged in an epic battle with Japanese TV superhero Ultraman and, the next, he’s trying to bond with Yayoi’s dad and coming off like a Ben Stiller nebbish.
"We’re using both (pre-recorded) and pre-edited footage and live-feed video that we’re broadcasting (during the show)," explains Leong. "There are moments where the imagery and reactions are so heightened that we’ve put them on video to accentuate the scene. I wanted to give the audience a theatrical cinematic experience – both cinema and theatre at the same time. Whether it will work remains to be seen," he adds with a laugh.
Although a fan of Japanese anime, the 29-year-old Leong admits he’d never watched a Godzilla film before taking on this project. When he saw the original – in its 1956 North American version, with inserts featuring Canadian-born Hollywood actor Raymond Burr – he wasn’t sure what to make of its cheesy special effects and sombre, apocalyptic tone. He says University of Calgary drama prof J. James Andrews, the show’s set and lighting designer and his former teacher, filled him in on the impact of the movie at the time.
"He was a teenager when it came out," says Leong. "He says it wasn’t regarded as campy when he went and saw it. So I tried to put it in context: What’s Lord of the Rings going to look like to our grandchildren?"
Leong says he used the first film as his primary inspiration for this show, although his favourite Godzilla flick is actually 1964’s bizarre Godzilla vs. Mothra – the one that introduces the lepidopteran creature of the title and features Japanese twin pop duo The Peanuts as tiny singing priestesses. The Peanuts also pop up in the play, warbling the nonsensical "Mothra Song," in one of Ohashi’s many movie in-jokes.
Godzilla is another giant-lizard step for Mob Hit, which was formed three years ago by ex-U of C students. So far, the professionally oriented, volunteer-run company has staged a spate of plays, from contemporary dramas by Sam Shepard and George F. Walker to its own translation of Tartuffe, but none have been this technically ambitious.
"It’s a big risk for us, but we’re willing and ready for it," says Leong. "I think people are taking our work a bit more seriously now – at least, that’s my hope," he adds. Then he bursts into laughter. "It’s kind of funny, talking about doing a show like Godzilla and hoping people will take us seriously." |
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