It's hard to choose the most powerful visual moment in the New National Theater's production of "19-Year-Old Jacob." My vote would be for the opening scene when, after the audience has been in total darkness for more than a minute, a single sharp triangle of white light suddenly shines down to reveal the main character lying on a bed as water drips precisely onto him from an impossibly high point above. We can vaguely make out other bodies draped over tall pillars, long hair and limbs hanging limp. A bright-red phone rings. The actor picks it up. "Hello? Hello?"
This kind of transformation — plunging the audience into darkness, then presenting them with something completely unexpected — happens again and again throughout "19-Year-Old Jacob." Long before the end I gave up trying to predict what I would see next, and just enjoyed the constant sense of surprise, and even occasional awe.
Directed by the visionary Yukichi Matsumoto of Osaka's Ishinha Theater, this is a roller coaster for the eyes. Whatever you may think of the story — which isn't short on stylized depictions of graphic sex and violence — it's impossible to ignore its theatrical wizardry.
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