Review: Off-Putting Narrative in a Pretty Box with Book-It's A TALE FOR THE TIME BEING

Dear Readers,

Can you imagine reading your diary from when you were 16-years-old out loud, in front of an audience? Now, can you imagine doing it not for laughs, but to recreate those precious, documented moments with emotional integrity? Superimposing emotion over words such as "My mom just does not understand me," in a way that feels both authentic and serious is close to impossible, even when the content of the writing is much graver. This was Book-It's noble challenge in its latest production of "A Tale for the Time Being" as 16-year-old Nao (Mi Kang) recites the words of her found diary.

Directed by Desdemona Chiang, Book-It's latest literary adaptation begins with Ruth (Mariko Kita), a young novelist who finds a diary washed up on shore. She discovers that the diary belongs to aptly named (given the repeated themes playing with time) Nao, a 16-year-old girl adjusting to her new life in Tokyo. The play pretty quickly spirals into a dark, nightmarish time warp as Nao documents her experiences with torturous bullying and her father's suicidal tendencies. Ruth stops writing her own memoir as she becomes invested in Nao's story. As the mystery unfolds, it gets increasingly complicated, as we wonder whether Nao's diary may be the writing of a ghost from the 2011 tsunami in Japan.

Ruth Ozeki's 400+ page metaphysical novel was a tough book to adapt--it bends and blends timelines, dream and waking planes, and brings to question the reliability of both Ruth (who struggles with her own memory) and Nao. On top of that, this meta-narrative is being literally narrated by Nao; she is reading and reciting her diary, not reenacting the events that she describes.

This voice of a teenage diary is a tricky one for theatrical adaptation. For one, Nao incorporates every high school English class metaphor and motif in the book. Nao spends a good deal of time with her Buddhist nun grandmother Jiko, who speaks almost exclusively in proverb. When Jiko does it, it feels grounded by experience. But when Nao tries to examine the themes and motifs of her life like a thesis paper, it feels contrived and naïve. The jumble of analogies--time, death, war, water, debris, crows, superheroes, raves, Proust, etc.--muddle the take-away.

The production touches on some dark subject matter such as suicide and bullying, but because the narrative comes from a jaded high school girl, they don't come off as being a big deal. Unquestionably horrible things are happening to Nao, so her half-interested narration feels counterproductive to teaching the audience about her personal strife (as the infographics in the lobby would suggest). When she does gripe, it's about how annoying it is that they moved to Japan, or how many stairs she has to climb to get to her grandmother's home. The intention may have been for Nao to perform as an apathetic teenager as a coping mechanism, but it gave the performance a nightmarish feeling that did not work for me.

Nao carries the bulk of the narration, so her tone lays the story's groundwork. It made it uncomfortably difficult to sympathize with this eerily monotone teen whose recitation of her experiences came off as, "eh, whatever." This is no fault of the actress--people do not speak the way that they write, so this may be the only way to portray this content.

This must have been a very difficult novel to adapt. "A Tale for the Time Being" is tremendously removed, which adds to the emotional distance between the audience and Nao. We are hearing the story third-hand: it's a recitation of Nao's diary read by Ruth. I applaud Book-It for taking on such a challenging and inclusive production. The delicate, dreamlike environment on set captures the blurring between the natural and supernatural spaces beautifully. Catherine Cornell's scenic design is very simple, cleverly utilizing the opaque shoji (Japanese screens) and tatami mats to split two worlds without separating them entirely.

Khanh Doan's portrayal of jovial, wise Jiko was inspired. She is a breath of fresh air, and the standout performance. Mi Kang's performance of Nao was consistent and committed. As Ruth, Mariko Kita tried her best to make Ruth's storyline as compelling as Nao's, and she is convincing as an author with fraying nerves. Her spacey and well-intentioned naturalist husband Oliver (Michael Patten) provided sweetness and comic relief to his and Ruth's storyline.

This is an edgy production for Book-It, and it's cool that they produced it, but the diary drama didn't translate. I give Book-It's "A Tale for the Time Being" an emotionally troubled but visually delighted 2.5/5. Xoxo

"A Tale for the Time Being" performs through October 9th, 2016. For tickets and information, visit them online at www.book-it.org.

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