Haruki Murakami Explores the Dark Side of Curiosity

by Mary Lou Herlihy

“YOUR TIME IN THE READING ROOM HAS BEGUN” announces a cross-dressing maid/librarian (Chuck Lacson) with authority and a wink.

Word for Word’s brilliant staging takes us on a wildly entertaining descent into a library’s inner sanctum. Parts Freudian dream, Dark Mirror, and Alice in Wonderland—nothing is as it seems. The Boy’ (Jed Parsario), dressed in school uniform, dutifully returns his library books like a good little soldier. When he is directed to the basement by a comical trio of librarians, The Boy complies.

Behind Door #107, a belligerent and grotesque Old Man (Ogie Zulueta) commands The Boy to read the entire contents of three huge, dusty volumes. The Boy is accustomed to acquiescing but he worries about his frail mother (Vivienne Truong) and his beloved pet starling. The Old Man leads the boy down, down, down, into the dark underbelly of the library. The shock deepens when he locks The Boy in prison.

Inspired direction by Lisa Hori-Garcia and Keiko Shimosato Carreiro makes it surprisingly easy to imagine the agile actors descending into a labyrinth of tangled corridors, darkened rooms, and winding stairways. Slamming doors, dripping water, and squishing bugs amplify the eerie underworld. Walls morph into doors, panels slide to reveal hidden rooms, then pivot yet again. Like living origami, the cast seamlessly folds, rotates, and transforms the small space. Scenic designer Mikiko Uesigi is the engineering genius behind the countless configurations of this dark maze.

But the darkness is filled with comic absurdity. When The Boy spends time with a magnificent red-robed Turkish tax collector (versatile Lacson again) whose diary he is reading, we are delightfully mesmerized. A defeated Sheep Man (Julie Kuwabara) wants to help The Boy, but is incapable of helping himself. The Sheep Man distracts with heavenly donuts.  A voiceless puppet girl wants The Boy to admire her striking beauty—yet she too is lost.

The stellar cast wholeheartedly embraces the gripping oddity of their characters. As The Boy, Parsario’s fretful posture and expressions elicit fear and loss. Kuwabara’s desperate Sheep Man shamefacedly accepts punishment. Puppet masters delicately stroke The Beautiful Girl’s hair as she beguiles The Boy.

As The Old Man, Zuleta terrifies with low and slow Kabuki-style movements. Zuleta wears a horrific half mask with warts and thick glasses and shape-shifts to immense size as his shadow dances behind him. When he finally proclaims that “The world follows its own course. Each possesses his own thoughts. Each treads his own path,” he is threatening us with our ultimate isolation and insignificance.

Everyone wants something from The Boy, but he doesn’t know what he wants. His desire to please others puts him in grave danger. His appetite for beauty, perfection, and knowledge keep him imprisoned.

Lacson announces: “THE READING ROOM IS NOW CLOSED. All is darkness.” We sit in dazed wonderment at the artistry and mystery of it all……and return our library books, like good little soldiers.

Murakami’s “Strange Library” is littered with ‘land minds.’ Be careful what you think. One wrong step and you risk winding up ALONE, or worse yet, EATEN alive! Strange libraries loom in and around us. Beware.

If you can get a ticket to this masterful show, you will be far luckier than The Boy. Wonders await.

“The Strange Library” by Haruki Murakami, directed by Lisa Hori-Garcia & Keiko Shimosato Carreiro, scenic design by Mikiko Uesugi, sound/projections by Lana Palmer, lighting by Jim Cave, costumes by Laura Hazlett, & props by Amy Benjamin, by Word for Word, at Z Space, San Francisco.

Info: zspace.org – to December 18, 2024.

Cast: Julie Kuwabara, Chuck Lacson, Jed Parsario, Vivienne Truong, and Ogie Zulueta.

Banner photo: Chuck Lacson & Jed Parsario: The Librarian wants to make sure that The Boy’s books are not overdue. Photos by Robbie Sweeny