By Jana Monji
If you’ve studied Japanese history or literature, the names Murasaki Shikibu (紫式部) Sei Shōnagon (清少納言) and Michiniga will be familiar and will suggest dangerous court intrigue. Rosie Narasaki’s 90-minute intermission-less play, Unrivaled, which had its world premiere at the Boston Court Theater in Pasadena, California, wraps up the lore of these literary legends into an easily understood and giddily funny story about friends, frenemies and king-making.
The narrator for all this is Empress Teishi (Cindy Nguyen), a joyful, gossipy gal who explains in asides the history of the Heian Court of the times. She has raised her own social position by acquiring the witty Sei Shōnagon (Chelsea Yakura-Kurtz) as a lady-in-waiting. This Shōnagon is a snarky, social butterfly and Teishi’s BFF who was once involved with (Fujiwara) Michinaga (David Huynh), but out of loyalty to Teishi, severed her ties.
Huyh’s Michinaga is sly, sexy and dangerous. He’s maneuvering to become the power behind the emperor and as part of the Fujiwara family, marrying daughters into the imperial line at a time when men could have more than one wife and many concubines.
Now a new writer has the Heian aristocracy buzzing: Murasaki Shikibu (Katie Kitani). She has already started writing what will be her masterpiece, The Tale of Genji. Teishi is eager to have Murasaki join her ladies-in-waiting stable to make it the most exciting literary salon. Kitani’s Murasaki is an introvert and often uncomfortable in social situations. She joins Teishi’s court, welcoming the empress’ patronage, but in every trio of friends, there’s one slightly on the outside and that is Murasaki.
Premiering during Women’s History Month, Narasaki’s play displays Japanese woman as leaders in literature who are both hindered and helped by societal limitations. Murasaki’s Tale of Genji is considered the world’s first novel. Sei Shōnagon’s The Pillow Book is a specific genre of writing, zuihitsu, which today is not unlike some of the social media accounts of lists of likes and dislikes and small scribbles about events.
Narasaki’s three female characters speak about “the burden to be female,” and being viewed by men and seen as only in relation to men. The empress holds her position only because of her husband, and needs to bear a male heir. The names Murasaki Shikibu and Sei Shōnagon are not personal names. Shikibu and Shōnagon are titles of men; we do not know either woman’s given name.
There are some things within the script that are jarring. The mention of raccoons and hummingbirds will seem familiar enough to US audiences, but raccoons are not native to Japan and neither are hummingbirds. Hummingbirds are only native to the Americas. With raccoons, however, Narasaki may mean the tanuki, or raccoon dog.
In Japanese, murasaki means a shade of purple and purple typically symbolizes lasting love (while red is a color associated with girls and short-term love). The fuji in Fujiwara means wisteria and you’ll see the kamon (family crest) of the Fujiwara family which is a stylized flowering wisteria during the play.
For those unfamiliar with Japanese culture, Unrivaled is a short and entertaining introduction to the morals and literary traditions of Heian Japan. For those familiar with Japanese culture, the play takes famous characters off of the written pages and gives them a fantastically fun representation. In both cases, it reminds us that obstacles can sometimes be opportunities, that women should not be discounted from history.
Unrivaled continues at Boston Court in Pasadena, California until 23 April 2023. For tickets or more information, visit BostonCourtPasadena.org.
For a longer review and a brief comparative history, visit my blog: AgeOfTheGeek.org.
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