#toho retj analysis

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Death’s costume in Toho’s Roméo et Juliette...

In the first act of Toho’s Roméo et Juliette (and the beginning of the second act), Death wears a long, dark trench coat and hat. He looks like an old-fashioned detective cliché—like he’s wearing a disguise. And he is wearing a disguise in that his face is, for the most part, hidden from the audience. 

Those are all from the first act. The image just below is from the second act, right before “C’est le jour.” 

But after Mercutio dies, Death’s disguise begins to slip. He removes his hat after “La vengeance,” revealing his face for the first time. 

Before “Le chant de l’alouette,” he removes his trench coat. 

But when we see him again in Mantua, he’s wearing a vest and hat, disguised as a man trying to sell drugs to a desolate, grief-stricken Romeo. Once again, the hat hides his face from view. 

As the apothecary, he wears only the vest. The apothecary is still a disguise, but a more revealing one. The audience knows as well as Romeo does that the poison the apothecary sells will be Romeo’s death. Even in this human disguise, Death can show his face. 

The last piece of the disguise, the vest, finally disappears (again) in the Capulet family crypt. Death is Death once more as he watches Romeo and Juliet take their own lives, as he watches Friar Lawrence discover the scene, and as he watches the families grieve. He even lets his face break into a haunting smile during “Coupables.” 

And rather than leave this post on that depressing note, I’ll leave on this picture of Tybalt sharing his microphone with Death during the curtain calls. 

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I’d like to point something out really quickly. Look at the difference between KimuraBenvolio in “Comment lui dire?” and MiuraBenvolio in “Comment lui dire?”

KimuraBenvolio is ready for a fight. He has a tendency to ball his right hand into a fist in response to grief, as if he’s angry (which is a pretty common expression of grief, I think). He isn’t ready to accept that Mercutio is dead. He isn’t ready to accept that Juliet is dead. He definitely isn’t ready to accept that Romeo will likely be dead by morning. 

But MiuraBenvolio has a tendency to hold his arms out as if to show the world he’s defenseless. If a fight comes, he doesn’t want any part of it. He’s given up. He’s resigned to the inevitability that, one way or another, he will be alone from now on. 

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Remember how I said the lights turn red when Death takes the lead in Roméo et Juliette? I’ve finally gotten my act together and gathered a few screenshots to demonstrate exactly what I mean. 

Here’s one from the beginning of “ぼくは怖い” where you can see that the lighting is a cool tone (bluish). Romeo’s actions are still his own. Death circles him, occasionally reaching out, and occasionally influencing his movements, but Romeo is still mostly in control of himself. 

Then the lighting shifts and Romeo stops leading himself. Death takes over the dance and Romeo falls in line. While he manages to break away for a brief moment near the end of the song, he is back under Death’s spell by the last line. 

Then in the reprise of “憎しみ,” Romeo starts the song in that bluish light again. He says (and I’m sorry if my Japanese is crap here), “I hate the black flame within me, which is...” and the light suddenly changes to red before he says, “hatred.” 

The only thing that breaks Romeo out of it this time is Juliet. He remembers her in the midst of his anger, self-loathing, and grief, and that thought is enough to temporarily break Death’s control. Unfortunately, Death regains the upper hand as Romeo runs offstage. 

Ready for the really sad part? When Romeo learns that Juliet has taken poison, he turns to Death and says, “Please sell me a poison,” and the light doesn’t turn red. He dances with Death and still the light doesn’t turn red. 

But when Romeo hesitates, when he begins to say no and turns to walk away, Death grabs his hand, places the poison in it, and the light finally turns red again. Romeo has second thoughts, but he loses control and Death takes hold of him one last time. When he takes the poison and dies, the light also isn’t red, which suggests that it’s once again Romeo in control of his own actions. Death leads him to the crypt in that red light, but the light turns cold again when Romeo sees Juliet’s body in the Capulets’ crypt. This time, unfortunately, she can’t break Death’s spell. When he sees Juliet and sees that she’s really dead (to his knowledge, at least), Death doesn’t need to control him anymore in order to take him. Romeo goes willingly.

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KimuraBenvolio’s immediate response to Mercutio’s death is really interesting. As a general rule, KimuraBenvolio is less touchy and physically affectionate than MiuraBenvolio (at least as far as I’ve noticed). Even while Mercutio is dying in his arms, it’s less like he’s holding Mercutio and more like he’s letting Mercutio rest against him. He doesn’t hold his hand. He doesn’t grasp at his shoulder the way MiuraBenvolio does. At one point, he even seems to look for a way out, but the other Montagues keep him there. When Mercutio strokes Benvolio’s face, KimuraBenvolio looks away. 

But when Mercutio dies, KimuraBenvolio is different. Mercutio’s hand falls from his cheek and he tries to catch it. Then when he realizes Mercutio is dead, he starts sobbing and presses his forehead to Mercutio’s temple. You can hear him hyperventilating as he grasps at Mercutio’s jacket. And when Romeo turns to face Tybalt, Benvolio puts his arms around Mercutio and holds him and then reaches for Mercutio’s hand and holds it. But he’s very, very specific about the way he holds it. He doesn’t just hold onto it—he’s careful to make sure their hands are palm to palm (I’m sure it isn’t intentional, but it makes me think of the meeting sonnet in the original Shakespeare: Palm to palm is holy palmers’ kiss). While Lady Capulet speaks, you can see him in the background still cradling Mercutio (arms wrapped around his shoulders) and it looks like he kisses his forehead another few times (or leans against his forehead—again, the distance/fact that it’s in the background makes it hard to tell). He’s still hugging him and seems to take his hand again in the beginning of “La vengeance.” 

When he gets up to defend Romeo, he makes sure someone is holding Mercutio so his head isn’t on the ground. By the time he actually shouts, “You’re wrong!” at Lady Capulet, you can tell he knows he has nothing left to lose. It’s already set in that Mercutio is gone. 

Anyway, this is all a very wordy way of saying my heart is in pieces. 

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I’ve got so much to say about the Toho version of “Comment lui dire?” (both KimuraBenvolio and MiuraBenvolio being so much to the role and the song), but Japanese isn’t even my second or third language, so I’m extremely self conscious about my translation skills. That being said, I did sit down with the lyrics and I think I’ve finally translated it in a way that I like. At the very least, I’ve translated it coherently.