The Hunting Gun
Josuke Misugi receives three letters from different women: his wife, his mistress and her daughter.
The first is from young Shoko, who just discovered her mother’s affair through the reading of her diary.
The second is from his wife Midori, revealing she has known about the infidelity from the start.
And the third is a farewell from Saiko, his lover of thirteen years: “By the time you read this, I will no longer be among the living.”
Weaving these three viewpoints, one of Japan’s most celebrated authors Yasushi Inoue gives universal resonance to Misugi’s demise. He turns what could have been the mundane account of adultery into a compelling love story that is considered a classic of world literature.
The stage adaptation is a monologue for three voices, and a single actress embodies all three women, transforming before our eyes.
Behind a scrim presenting fragments of letters, the increasingly tormented hunter Josuke Misugi cleans his gun. He seems to exist in a different time space.
The simple action he performs, which would normally take only a few minutes, is stretched through the entire duration of the play: picking up his gun in ultra-slow motion, inspecting it, meticulously cleaning its barrels, and finally standing to aim at his wife’s back.
So … comedy tonight!
Based on the book by Yasushi Inoue, adapted for the stage by Serge Lamothe, and starring Miki Nakatani and Mikhail Baryshnikov, the U.S. premiere of “The Hunting Gun” will be presented Mar 16–Apr 15, 2023, at New York City’s Baryshnikov Arts Center.
THE HUNTING GUN LINKS