Interludes

THE HANGOVER REPORT – Major Curda fearlessly delves into the heart of darkness in the mesmerizing stage adaptation of Yukio Mishima’s KINKAKUJI

• By drediman
• September 14, 2025
• No Comments

This fall, Japan Society in Midtown East is hosting the Yukio Mishima Centennial Series in celebration of the controversial yet influential Japanese novelist’s 100th birthday. Presented under the thematic banner of “Emergences”, the festival promises to be a fascinating and enticing opportunity to experience the brilliance and psychological depths of Mishima’s works through the multidisciplinary lens of the performing arts, encompassing Western theater, dance, physical theater, and traditional Japanese noh theater. Kicking off the series last week was Leon Ingulsrud’s stage adaptation of Mishima’s novel Kinkakuji (The Temple of the Golden Pavillion), starring the sensational Korean-American actor Major Curda — who shares a co-adaption credit with Ingulsrud — and featuring designs by acclaimed installation artist Chiharu Shiota. Together, the trio have successfully translated Mishima’s literary fever dream for the stage with emotional precision and considerable artistry.

Inspired by true events, the post-war piece tells the story of a Japanese monk who destroys an ancient temple through a carefully calculated act of arsony. In Kinkakuji, Mishima attempts to decipher the motivations behind the young anti-hero’s extremist act of finality by taking a good hard look at the man’s labyrinthine, morally murky psychological machinations, thereby staring into humanity’s unsavory heart of darkness with unnerving surgical clarity. In the process, Mishima uncovers the self-loathing, jealousy, awkwardness, and spite that dictate much of our human existence. Most potently, the work is a masterful portrayal of delusional thinking — which is disturbingly relevant as it pertains to our current political and social realities — especially as portrayed by Curda. It’s a fearless, masterful performance that relentlessly endeavors to crack the complicated character’s coiled, knotted psyche. The actor also imbues his performance with a graceful physicality that gives the production a satisfying and seductive theatricality that’s uncommon in solo shows.

The production by SITI Company co-founder Ingulsrud — a Japan Society world premiere commission — has been rendered with stark minimalism and mesmerizing poetry, particularly as visually manifested by Shiota’s abstract sculptural stage design, which is comprised of a whole myriad of dangling, free-hanging threads. Aesthetically, the design provides the play’s proceedings texture, spacial dimension, and kinetic energy (when theatrically manipulated and artfully lit) — as if they are transpiring through the mysterious gauze of time. Shiota’s stage design is a fascinating extension of her larger body of work, some of which is also on display at Japan Society. In fact, the opening of Kinkakuji coincided with the unveiling of the first New York solo museum exhibition of the Berlin-based contemporary artist (entitled Chiharu Shiota: Two Home Countries, the exhibit commemorates the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II, which the artist interlaces with her own personal memories).

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

KINKAKUJI
Off-Broadway, Play
Japan Society
1 hour, 40 minutes (without an intermission)
Through September 20