The two men, barefoot and wearing traditional loincolos around their waists, bumped into each other at stages, transforming into a sumo ring.
A combat consultant observing a nearby rehearsal stepped in to provide advice. The man's arm movements were too straight. Their movements had to be smoother and more circular. After a while, the two actors were there again. They reached out, transferred their weight, then pushed each other aside in a grappling exchange.
New York theatre attendees have seen everything, including shows on sports. But what is not, even nonexistent, is the theatrical work of sumo wrestling. Currently, Lisa Sanai Doling's “SUMO” transports public theatre's Broadway audience to a stable Tokyo intimate sumo facility with bare breasts not boldly slapped each other with heirs and piles of sweat.
“I'm interested in people who use their bodies differently than they do,” Doling said. “Their humanity is in the way they fight, so it's very connected to me – a story of battle and humanity.”
The play itself tells the story of Akio, a newcomer at Heya, as he is considered to be rather small by SUMO standards and is not taken seriously at first. A wrestler who has not tried to prove himself, he wipes out food, gets bathed in the highest ranks of wrestlers, endures cruelty when he works like the other servants who have been relegated to perform. But soon, he soon proves himself and rises to become one of the most powerful combatants in the group.
Through his journey, the theatre audience learns about the origins of sumo wrestling, their spiritual connections with Shinto, historic Japanese religion, and other aspects of its lore. But the real highlight is seeing the actors roll and roll each other in an ambitiously choreographed battle sequence that requires months of physical training.
Doling and Shaw's director Ralph B. Pena initially didn't know how to portray the battle. They first tried the shadow puppet, but Pena said, “I'd have been a police officer.”
Pena and Doling hired two combat directors to ensure safety, accuracy and accuracy as they wrestled with the actor and committed to doing it smoothly within budget.
“I think this is a distinctive feature of this particular play,” said James Yaegashi, a SUMO consultant who grew up in Japan and practices martial arts. “The fight isn't just a cool thing, it's actually a very integral part of the story.”
Jesse Green, Chief Theatre Critic of the New York Times, said, “Penya's staging offers plenty of strong action that makes men's size and strength almost elemental, like planetary collisions, within a simple 15-foot sumo ring designed primarily by Wilson Chin.”
Born in Hawaii and Japanese, Doling saw a live SUMO event in Japan about 10 years ago while visiting the country shortly after his mother's death. She said the sight helped her approach her ancestors. When she learned more about sports, she was particularly caught up in the dedication of sumo wrestlers who abandoned their personal lives to practice combat forms.
“Inside it is beauty, spirituality, honor,” she said of deep ritual sports. She tried to work on a play that premiered at La Jolla Playhouse in San Diego in 2023 (the play is a joint production of La Jolla Playhouse and My Theater Company).
When choosing a cast, Pena said he was looking for an actor who could sing, act, dance and own the right body frame. He said the process took over a year and some candidates came from Japan and Hawaii. The audition itself contained physical components and involved testing the actor's flexibility in a squat-like position. Once the nine cast were framed, the actor spent the first few weeks of training rehearsals, including lower body exercises to mimic the SUMO wrestler's stance.
“Because there's really American impulses and really high in the body,” said intimate director Chelsea Pace, referring to football tackle and rugby. “One of the things we had to come back many times is 'lost your weight'. ”
Pace said they incorporated safe language and physical clues to help the actors communicate with each other during the fight. Actors also have sports massages available.
“It was a lifesaver just because I was constantly feeling physical pain,” said David Shee, who portrayed Mitsuo, Haia's highest ranked wrestler, with a laugh.
Shee, who had no prior experience in sumo, suffered an existing knee injury and at recent shows she wore a brace that matches her skin tone. In his free time, he said he saw a video of real SUMO practices to understand the tempo.
Seas and Scott Keji Takeda, who plays Aiko, said they gained weight to prepare for their role by increasing their dietary intake, but they said they were not pressured to do so by the play's leadership team.
“I think it helped me feel like I live in that role and I feel like I live in that lifestyle,” he said he won about £20.
The experience was a learning curve for the actors, and people on the creative team said they were mindful of adding elements that would help the audience learn more about SUMO. In one scene, after Mitsuo wins the match, Mitsuo olds his tone of joy. Rikishi – Sumo Wrestlers' Japanese term – does not celebrate after the competition, which is the actual doctrine of sports. The narration and visual aids at the beginning of the play describe the origins of sports and what has long been believed to be. Centuries ago, two gods fought against each other to determine Japan's fate.
To enhance the effect, the drummer will ritualize drums on the stage at specific intervals. Takada, who is making his Broadway debut, said he has become more and more in love with sumo wrestling when he began preparing for the role.
“It's like filling the gap,” he said, “between the sporting events and theatres.”
