Tokyo Shock Boys

Even though I was arriving at the iconic Enmore theatre, which is legendary in Sydney and has been around since 1908, I knew I was in for a few surprises this evening. I knew this because the sign at the ticket office read “Warning: Male Nudity, Loud Noises, Dangerous Stunts, Don’t try this at home. Please laugh we are risking our lives.”

I had previously heard of the Tokyo Shock Boys, in fact I tried to see their show at the Adelaide Fringe about ten years ago, but their popularity back then meant that you had to be really quick to get tickets. So finally I was about to see the show that I had heard a bit about, to say the least.

The theatre was almost full and the crowd sat in anticipation waiting for the show to begin. Luckily we weren’t kept waiting long.

Now this is the 20th anniversary tour, so these guys know how to entertain crowds around the world. They are after all Japan’s biggest export, having formed their group in 1990 when they were roadies on the Paul McCartney tour of Japan. They started out performing their humour on Japan’s notorious variety television.

I was as prepared as I could be for some of the gross stuff – although my imagination was not good enough to be specific. I was prepared for many laughs and I was looking forward to a polished performance. So when Danna San, Gyuzo San, Nambu San, and Sango San entered from the rear of the theatre, very close to where I was sitting, I was surprised to see how old most of them looked. I was also surprised that I was unable to understand what they were shouting at us.

When they finally made it to the stage I was still struggling to understand them. I was not alone, throughout the performance audience members on either side of me were asking each other, “What did he say?”, and “What was that?” So I found myself sitting through the show not really following any of the transitional dialogue and therefore not really knowing what was going on. I guess, maybe, this did not really matter too much, as the main part of the show was of course the outrageous stunts and hilarious acts.

There were plenty of those. These guys really push the boundaries of gross, humour and weird. There was loads of laughter from the audience which included a large number of their countrymen.

Overall the performance was good and at times I was sitting on the edge of my seat, totally grossed out, however at times the polish was not there. I think someone on the tour realised the dilemma the tour was facing. The popularity of the Tokyo Shock Boys means large crowds, but the nature of the show calls for smaller venues to ensure greater audience enjoyment (or terror). So the solution was a big screen. However on this occasion, the camera man was, again surprisingly, the junior from the theatre. The same kid who was cleaning plastic cups and chip bags as we arrived for the show. The quality of the ‘handy cam” camera work was, unsurprisingly, lacking and at times rather frustrating because we saw more backs and feet than the punch line or interaction with the upfront audience members.

There were also a few stunts that did not work which was another surprising part of this performance. Of course things go wrong on the night – that is a very real possibility whenever you are doing live performances. However the amount of mishaps was also a surprise.

The show was crass, it was gross, it was brutal and it was good. But the professionalism that I was expecting of a show that had been on the circuit for 20 years, quite simply was not there.

Tokyo Shock Boys
Saturday 6 March
Enmore Theatre – Inner Sydney