Kabuki Theater's Middling Return to Imago

The Lady Aoi is a theatrical playground, but less fun to watch.

A sparkly red drum kit resembling Star Bar is the last thing you'd expect in an ancient Japanese Noh drama. It's also the first thing you see in this erotic ghost story about a woman hospitalized for "sex complexes" and tormented nightly by the living ghost of her husband's ex-lover. Director Jerry Mouawad returns from an 18-month hiatus with all of his signature Brechtian techniques. The set is a modern hospital, but the floor is painted with a mural of Japanese ocean waves; the cast is only three people, but their presence seems huger thanks to microphones and ghostly sound techniques; the lighting alternates from fluorescent ceiling bulbs to spotlights to an ambient red glow; and at one point, two sailboat sails drift through the hospital lobby. It's a short-and-sweet production that feels like an artist sampling techniques. Without enough set-up, it's hard to care when the ghost of Lady Rokujo and Aoi's husband reminisce about their dead (or is it?) romance. And the sudden changes between natural speech and microphone are distracting. Instead of trying to suspend your disbelief, appreciate this for what it is—a public playground for an artist who likes to pull out all the stops.

See it: The Lady Aoi is at Imago Theatre, 17 SE 8th Ave., 231-9581. 7:30 pm Thursday-Saturday and 2 pm Sunday, March 24-27. $15-$25.

photo from Imago Theater photo from Imago Theater

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