In theater, as in daily life, it is possible to have too much of a good thing. Such was the case with ¡°Tempo 12-nen no Shakespeare¡± (¡°Shakespeare in Year 12 of the Tempo Era¡°) by dramatist and writer Hisashi Inoue.
Set in the underworld of 1841 Japan, and featuring characters and fragments from all of William Shakespeare¡¯s 37 plays, the production premiered in Tokyo in 1974 as a keenly anticipated confection of yakuza thrills and spot-the-Bard challenges for those in the know.
Yet it only garnered a lukewarm reception, with the main talking point being the audience members who were forced to leave to catch their trains home before the end of the marathon 4?-hour-plus work.
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