{"id":1504,"date":"2016-07-08T17:46:57","date_gmt":"2016-07-08T15:46:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thecritter.co.za\/?p=1504"},"modified":"2016-07-08T17:46:57","modified_gmt":"2016-07-08T15:46:57","slug":"in-bocca-al-lupo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/thecritter.co.za\/?p=1504","title":{"rendered":"In Bocca Al Lupo: Crepi!"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Jemma<\/a>
Jemma Kahn in In Bocca Al Lupo directed by Jane Taylor. Photo: CuePix\/Dani O’Neill – NAF 2016<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

For everyone that was at the show this morning or heard about it, let\u2019s get one thing out of the way. The microphone was problematic. Technical glitches happen. It was surely a demon in the machine and not for lack of preparation or professionalism.<\/p>\n

Okay.<\/p>\n

Jemma Kahn, directed by Jane Taylor, outshines herself in this triumphant last instalment of the Kamishibai trilogy \u2013 which began with The Epicene Butcher<\/em> followed by We Didn\u2019t Come to Hell for the Croissants<\/em>, and now In Bocca Al Lupo<\/em>, written by Kahn and Tertius Kapp.\u00a0In Bocca Al Lupo<\/em> \u2013 Italian for \u201cinto the mouth of the wolf\u201d \u2013 means taking the plunge and living fearlessly. And Kahn has done exactly this.<\/p>\n

She tells a good story, there\u2019s no denying. She\u2019s funny and entertaining, and holds the audience in her soft grip for over an hour, giving us a sexy squeeze every now and then to produce a guffaw or a sinking heart.<\/p>\n

The work seems autobiographical (mostly? how much is embellished?) and traces her life after being a drama graduate, to teaching English in Japan, and following love to Ireland, picking apart all that happens in between to expose a vulnerability that we can’t help falling for.<\/p>\n

The illustrations are all so interesting, and part of how Kahn\u2019s trilogy has become so successful. It\u2019s the intrigue that Kamishibai creates \u2013 waiting to see what is revealed next and how, is what keeps us hanging on to every word. An almost childlike curiosity arises in wanting to see what style of drawing is coming next, how funnily the person will be drawn, is there abstracted cartoon finishes or a still line drawing, and how will the four story box panels work together to make or break the picture?<\/p>\n

Within Kahn’s story, flashes of social and political commentary emerge.<\/p>\n

Her descriptions of the ‘seasonal types’ of women had me laughing out loud as she nimbly switches between the posh author\u2019s instructions of Colour Me Beautiful<\/em> on how to be an ideal woman, her mother\u2019s input, and her own seemingly cynical (but so true!) interpretations of women. Hilarious stuff.<\/p>\n

We\u2019re introduced to the clash of East vs West culture, and through her English club at the school, are introduced to the militant ways of the Japanese, in her experience\u2026 because as Kahn explains, \u201cthere is something very wrong in Japan, or it might be there was something wrong with me\u201d. We laugh at the communication problems, the different ways of respecting someone\u2019s intelligence, the acceptable way to decorate where one lives \u2013 all a far cry from how we operate here. But when it comes to the crunch \u2013 of how Kahn can leave \u2013 we feel that knot in the stomach when the school\u2019s principal shows his compassion. It\u2019s a subtle moment, easily missed, but human understanding prevails over the culture shock.<\/p>\n

Upon arriving in Ireland we’re privy to her disillusionment… love in idea is never love in practice. The gaping rift between the reality of relationships and the romance of finding one’s soul mate \u2013 one can only learn that hard lesson oneself.<\/p>\n

At its core, In Bocca Al Lupo<\/em> is unsentimentally about the discovery of self and the discovery of what\u2019s important \u2013 being happy and following your dreams. Sounds a bit trite, doesn\u2019t it? Not when this idealistic message is\u00a0in the capable hands of Kahn, Taylor and Kapp.<\/p>\n

– Sarah Roberson<\/strong><\/p>\n

The next show is on tonight 08 July at 19.00 at the Hangar. Get there if it\u2019s not already sold out. For more info & bookings click here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

– “In bocca al lupo” is an Italian idiom used in theatre to say good luck before a performance. The standard response is “crepi il lupo!” or, more commonly, simply “crepi!” \u2013 Italian for \u201cmay (the wolf) die\u201d.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For everyone that was at the show this morning or heard about it, let\u2019s get one thing out of the way. The microphone was problematic. Technical glitches happen. It was … Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1505,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/thecritter.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1504"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/thecritter.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/thecritter.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thecritter.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thecritter.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1504"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/thecritter.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1504\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thecritter.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1505"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/thecritter.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1504"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thecritter.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1504"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thecritter.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1504"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}