Daniel MacIvor, Tyson James photo: Tanja-Tiziana
MacIvor’s Postcard from Japan is picture perfect.
by Christian Baines
Daniel MacIvor’s Arigato, Tokyo is something of a creeper. Opening with the first of numerous cryptic monologues performed by the bewitchingly androgynous Etta Waki (Tyson James), it quickly finds focus in following Carl Dewer (David Storch) on a book tour in Japan, where his novel, he is told is loved not for its comedy, nor its observations on love, but as a melancholy work of ennui. A hard partying cynic on a strict, if insatiable diet of sex and cocaine, Carl is accompanied by his ‘good baby sitter’ minder, Nushi (Cara Gee), who may have a far more personalized style of care in mind for her Canadian charge. But she’s not the only local whose eye has settled on the cynical author.
From this cast of somewhat unsympathetic, yet utterly compelling characters, MacIvor spins an aesthetically rich and satisfyingly disquieting story about the unwavering, ubiquitous human desire to be with the wrong person. Carl searches for a fix to his own self-destruction in people who are potentially more destructive still. Storch does a terrific job of bringing this to life onstage. The palpable vulnerability that underpins his performance (and he’s on stage for almost every scene) rises to the challenging task of bridging our empathy to this embittered ex-80’s coke fiend.
