Nostalgia is a play about Japanese immigrants migrating to Brazil in 1908. It is the story of Noichi, who wonders around the world, falling in love with Ann along the way. Ann, Noichi, and their new companion, Chikino, wander throughout South America. Unfortunately, they get separated because of racism and struggle to find each other again. Along with racism, Nostalgia faces such issues as friendship, immigration, and discrimination.
The dramatic form of Nostalgia is non-realism because of certain theatrical devices. For example: the characters broke the “fourth wall”; language was stylised through repetition; and dance, song, and unrealistic costume were employed. Even though the form was non-realism, it also included aspects of a representational style because it attempted to create the illusion of life progressing on stage. The settings were extremely detailed and realistic, and the audience is expected to emphasise with the characters.
I liked how the action of the play was clearly structured into thirteen obvious scenes, which generally didn’t include narrative devices. Each scene had an individual tone. For example, scene 9 had a joyful tone, involving several cheerful children singing questions. Whereas, scene 3 had a distressing tone, because the privacy of the immigrants was violated. The overall tone of the play would be reflective because each scene reflects on different aspects along their journey.
The performance space used was a box stage and the set changed every scene. The set was mostly representational in style because it was very realistic, especially in the newspaper factory in scene five. However, it did consist of few presentational scenes because the set was unachievable. Some of these unachievable sets included the beach in scene one, the river in scene six, and the desert in scene eight. The set was extremely effective in creating a sense of place because it was so realistic and believable. The set contributed to the various moods of the play because it emphasized the issues by situating them on a more believable level.
There are numerous scenes in Nostalgia that used lighting, which consequently impacted my opinion of the play. Some scenes cleverly used realistic lighting to convey to the audience the time of day. For example, in scene five, the lighting was bright during the day, and then dimmed when it was nighttime. The use of symbolism through lighting really impacted my view of the play. One of the many brilliant examples was in scene three: during the physical examination, there was an extremely bright light symbolising the violation of the immigrants’ privacy, which contributed to the distressed mood of the scene.
There were many sound effects used throughout the duration of the play. One of the powerful examples occurred in scene five: after the protests, fire, rape, and shootings, there was unbelievably loud music, which intensified the scene. This contributed to the chaotic mood of the scene because the loud music added more havoc to the issues already presented.
Overall, I definitely enjoyed watching Nostalgia. I believe the play is amazing because of the theatrical techniques, such as music; lighting; song and dance; and scene structure. Surprisingly, I could actually understand the plot, regardless of not being able to recognise the dialogue, because I understood the non-verbal communication. This was a new experience for me, as I had never seen an international play before. Without a doubt, I would recommend everyone to watch Nostalgia!
