I went to see ‘Shibuya Solo Reading – Miyuki Torii × Edogawa Ranpo: “The Caterpillar”’.
Before the reading, there was a rakugo performance by former announcer and rakugo artists. Rakugo is a traditional Japanese form of comic storytelling. A single performer, called a rakugoka, sits on a cushion on stage and tells a story by playing multiple characters. It was great to hear rakugo again after such a long time.
After rakugo, we had reading by a famous Japanese comedian. The reading lasted a whole hour! Although there were lots of words that aren’t used much these days, I learnt a great deal from Ms Torii’s use of different vocal tones, her timing, her facial expressions, and so on.
