{"id":373,"date":"2014-06-19T00:49:42","date_gmt":"2014-06-18T15:49:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.hbnk.cfbx.jp\/study\/?p=373"},"modified":"2014-06-19T01:37:04","modified_gmt":"2014-06-18T16:37:04","slug":"orderly-disorder-a-40-minute-whirlpool-trip-that-miss-revolutionary-idol-berserker-cordially-invites-all-of-you-to-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hbnk.cfbx.jp\/study\/?p=373","title":{"rendered":"Orderly Disorder: A 40-Minute Whirlpool Trip That Miss Revolutionary Idol Berserker Cordially Invites All of You To"},"content":{"rendered":"

An English program notes prepared for Miss Revolutionary Idol Berserker’s \u201cMS. BERSERKER ATTTTTACKS!! ELEKTRO\u2606SCHOCK\u2606LUV\u2606LUV\u2606LUV\u2606SHOUT!!!!!\u201d toured in Europe in 2013. \u9769\u547d\u30a2\u30a4\u30c9\u30eb\u66b4\u8d70\u3061\u3083\u3093\u30e8\u30fc\u30ed\u30c3\u30d1\u516c\u6f14\u306e\u305f\u3081\u306b\u66f8\u304b\u308c\u305f\u82f1\u6587\u30d7\u30ed\u30b0\u30e9\u30e0\u30ce\u30fc\u30c8\u3002<\/span><\/p>\n

Miss Revolutionary Idol Berserker, a Japanese theatre company led by director Nikaid\u00f4 T\u00f4co, was founded in 2013. It was created shortly after she disbanded the Banana Gakuen Theatre Company (hereafter Banana), which became instantly popular upon its formation in 2008 and earned unanimous critical approval. However, Miss Berserker differs from other experimental performance groups owing to Nikaid\u00f4\u2019s unique directional style, the company\u2019s references to Japanese otaku culture, and its use of audience involvement.<\/p>\n

Despite being a theatre major at her university, Nikaid\u00f4 sharply denies she has learned anything important from college, and with good reason. The bizarre shows presented by Banana and Miss Berserker are the sort of performances that conservative theatre educators would not acknowledge as legitimate theatre. Each show is an exercise in veritable chaos. During these performances, fifty hyper-excited men and women in school or military uniforms dance and shout to the deafeningly loud music sampled and remixed from Japanese pop\u2014most of which is either hit songs sung by all-girl idol groups, such as AKB48, or popular anime signature tunes. These songs are belted out while performers make repeated forays to the front of the stage and throw liquids and slimy objects into the auditorium.<\/p>\n

If your assumption about the Japanese people is that they are gentle and polite, that perception would have been instantly shattered after witnessing one of the Banana\u2019s shows. The performers were berserkers, frenzied warriors, who not only took center stage but also occupied the whole theatre as they yelled barbarically and incoherently; they were revolutionaries, defying the established notions of what theatrical performances should be and what sort of relationships performers should build with their audiences. These unique performers will also appear in the new, aptly named, Miss Revolutionary Idol Berserker\u2019s shows.<\/p>\n

But were and are they really revolutionaries? Some might think so after experiencing such a wild and crazy show. However, the performers\u2019 motions are not as unstructured as they seem; in fact, they are carefully choreographed. The gestures of the cast members are so controlled and disciplined that, some would argue, their uncannily precise mechanical movements are reminiscent of fascist marches\u2014perhaps even North Korea\u2019s mass games. Unlike those in Living Theatre and many other legendary avant-garde companies active in the late 1960s and 70s, Miss Berserker\u2019s members do not seem, at first glance, to be enjoying uninhibited freedom in their performances. Just as fascist marches and mass games in North Korea represent a single dictator\u2019s will and commands, Miss Berserker\u2019s performances are similarly under the rigorous quality control of director Nikaid\u00f4. Although cast members can freely bring in choreography, costumes, and props they think fit for the ready-made music during the rehearsal periods, Nikaid\u00f4 demands that cast members unerringly reproduce the complex patterns and sequences\u2014which she alone composes and coordinates\u2014once performances have begun. In this sense, the performers are dancing and singing robots, merely repeating what they are programmed to do.<\/p>\n

Still, despite their regimented movements, the cast members\u2019 transcendental jubilance while performing seems to justify Nikaid\u00f4\u2019s exacting method. After all, Miss Berserker\u2019s performers are not so much \u201cartists\u201d who are supposed to express themselves as they are participants in a theatrical rite. They are contributors who share common values and want to achieve a collective ecstasy through Nikaid\u00f4\u2019s meticulously prescribed protocol. Furthermore, while many of Nikaid\u00f4\u2019s performers are \u201cregulars\u201d who have often appeared in Banana\u2019s productions, not all participants are company members. Instead, interested individuals audition and are selected each time. Despite the harshness of her approach, the competitiveness in auditions and the increasing number of new applicants demonstrates the firm support Nikaid\u00f4 has received from her would-be cast members.<\/p>\n

Another feature that distinguishes Miss Berserker from classical experimental performance groups is its constant references to and borrowings from Japanese otaku subculture, such as its use of anime and idol songs. Although back in the 1980s, otaku was a term referring to introverted geeks or fans who were only interested in their \u201cchildish\u201d hobbies, the current trend of fantasizing about fictitious worlds\u2014epitomized by \u201ccosplay,\u201d in which anime and manga fans assume the roles of their favorite fictional characters by wearing their costumes\u2014has since become so powerful and pervasive among Japanese young people that otaku has lost many of its original negative connotations. The video clips, music, choreography, and costumes Miss Berserker employs are pastiches or brazen copies from numerous sources: TV anime programs, girls\u2019 idol groups, comic books, young-adult literature (called \u201clight novels\u201d in Japan), and other well-known figures and characters that young Japanese audiences would instantly recognize. Nevertheless, these appropriated visual and aural images come and go so quickly that audiences can only grasp their phantasmagoric effects. Audiences too old or foreign to share such a collective memory of Japanese subculture in the late 90s through the present may not appreciate them as readily, though they can still enjoy their effects.<\/p>\n

Audience involvement\u2014rather than audience participation\u2014is yet another key element understanding Miss Berserker. Structurally rigid, its performances begin with \u201cpreset\u201d: a start-up session in which the cast brings props, sets the stage, does warm-ups, and introduces themselves. The preset is then followed by the first medley, after which the performers clean the messy stage and prepare for the second medley. When the second medley ends, the cast scatters into the auditorium seats and lessons in \u201cnerd-style\u201d cheerleading\u2014otagei k\u00f4shukai\u2014begin. Each performer gives hands-on lessons to several audience members and teaches them how to cheer for the idols on stage, just as idol otaku sing along, holler, and dance while waving handheld chemical light sticks (an important item for otagei) during concerts. After taking these lessons, audience members are told to repeat the formulaic gestural patterns and shout phrases and to join the performers in cheerleading for Miss Berserker\u2019s primary idol: Nikaid\u00f4. By utilizing their own bodies and voices, the audience members get more deeply involved in what they are witnessing and are led to the final phase: \u201cchanging places.\u201d During this phase, the cast invites audience members to come onstage, sometimes taking them by the hand.<\/p>\n

After completing this transfer, the performers go to the auditorium and leave the audience members on stage doing what they like. This technique is designed to literally demonstrate that the cast and audience members are interchangeable. The \u201cchanging places\u201d phase of Miss Berserker\u2019s performances is designed to harken back to the genesis of theatre, the festivals and carnivals of old, during which every member of the community was a participant and enjoyed the temporary subversion of the established order. Consequently, in the Miss Berserker performances, audience members are expected to abandon any hope of taking a critical distance to observe what they see and hear; instead, they should just sing, dance, and enjoy the show with and as the members of the company.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

An English program notes prepared for Miss Revolutionary Idol Berserker’s \u201cMS. BERSERKER ATTTTTACKS!! EL […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-373","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-japanese-contemporary-theatre"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hbnk.cfbx.jp\/study\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/373","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hbnk.cfbx.jp\/study\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hbnk.cfbx.jp\/study\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hbnk.cfbx.jp\/study\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hbnk.cfbx.jp\/study\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=373"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.hbnk.cfbx.jp\/study\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/373\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":375,"href":"https:\/\/www.hbnk.cfbx.jp\/study\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/373\/revisions\/375"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hbnk.cfbx.jp\/study\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=373"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hbnk.cfbx.jp\/study\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=373"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hbnk.cfbx.jp\/study\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=373"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}