Live Report: Sanctuary (Sora 2014)

[rose_of_pain]

Sanctuary - Takarazuka Bow Hall Theater - 9/12/14

As I mentioned in my report for Day 3, I got this ticket more to just have the experience of being in the Bow Hall but knew very little about the show itself or the siennes in it. Soragumi is my 2nd favorite troupe right now but I sadly admit the only person in this show I really knew by name beforehand was Junya Chitose but I'm definitely learning the babies that were in this show as a result of seeing it. I did try to do a little research ahead of time on La Reine Margot, the book the show is supposedly based off of but to be honest it did little to help. lol Since from my understanding the book is more focused on Marguerite de Valois while this show, of course, focused more on Henry IV of France. ...I also for some stupid reason thought this was going to be about Henry IV of England since that's the only Henry IV I'm familiar with. Oops. XD But despite all of this I was still able to follow the story well enough. I of course was lost on a lot of the details due to my lack of Japanese but I got the basic plot and I personally really enjoyed it. I think I even understood the show more than the Japanese fans, lol.

The set was pretty simple but then again there's not much you can do with the Bow Hall stage so they did well with what they were limited with. It was pretty much the same set for most of the show, with them re-using a large cross as much as they could, that would come in and out during certain parts. Then they had this background piece that basically looked like a rock type thing with a huge crack going through it that would periodically open up wider for a dramatic effect complete with smoke and red light. I'm not entirely sure what it was supposed to be or represent but I thought it was kinda cool? XD It definitely went with the mood of the show. There was pretty much nothing happy about the show. It's a dark story with a lot of death in it. Considering I like stories like that, I was pretty content and often at the edge of my seat cause I get stupidly excited over this type of stuff.

So here goes my sad attempt to best describe the plot. Feel free to correct me on anything. Especially since the play verged greatly from actual history and I haven't found any good summaries of the book so I have no idea how accurate it is. This also won't necessarily be in the correct order of events either because my memory has faded slightly on this. ^^;;

Oh and spoilers from this point (though I doubt there will ever be a DVD but hopefully there will be Sky Stage footage some day)...

Charles IX (Akine Hikaru) is the current King of France at the start of this show but its pretty clear from the beginning that he's not quite right in the head and possibly sickly? Near the beginning of the show, he is visited by Cosimo (Kanon Mai), this kinda mysterious old woman who gives him some type of fortune that judging by Charles' reaction, doesn't set him up for a very good future. XD His mother, Catherine de' Medici (Junya Chitose) is the real controlling power behind him. Admiral Gaspard de Coligny (Matsukaze Akira) is the other power figure who Charles seems to take a lot of advice from and looks up to almost like a father-figure (I remember Charles calling Coligny "uncle" but not sure if they're actually related or not) despit the fact that Coligyny is a Hugenot and Protestant. Charles has two younger siblings featured in this show, his sister Marguerite de Valois (Reimi Urara) and his brother Duke of Anjou (Haruse Oki).

Meanwhile Henry of Navarre (Aizuki Hikaru), our main character here, was baptised as Catholic but has been raised as a Protestant by his mother Jeanne (Hanasato Mana). She passes away early in the show and Henry is declared King of Navarre. I felt bad that the actress' character dies so early on but they at least have her showing up as a ghost in the background a lot, in order to give her some more scenes. lol Catherine has arranged for Marguerite to marry Henry, despite the fact that she is Catholic and he is Protestant. Marguerite is not entirely happy at the idea, after she realizes she's being used by her mother as essentially a chess piece. The Duke of Guise (Rinjou Kira) is also opposed to this marriage, being a firm hater of Protestants and it seems he also has a thing for Marguerite though she is quite disgusted by his interest in her. Its pretty clear near the beginning that Guise is essentially the villain of this show. Though the very first scene of the show is some type of fight and I think he was fighting on the same side as Henry but he develops a bit of dislike for Henry right from the start. I forget if its because Henry outstaged him on the battlefield or if they were actually on opposite sides. I just remember Guise looking pretty angry. XD

There's a wonderful scene where Marguerite and Henry are first introduced to each other at court. They dance though either seems all too interested in the other. I got the impression that they are both strong-headed characters who at first aren't too fond of the idea of marrying each other but discover they both share the same ideals and develop respect for each other which eventually turns into romance. Though there was very little of the romance factor in this show compared to most zuka shows. I don't think they even kissed til near the end as I recall. But anyways, during the party, Guise makes his displeasure very well known and I have no idea what exactly he or Henry say to each other but Guise gets really up in Henry's face and Henry reacts by...kissing him?! LOL Guise is completely revolted and humiliated and leaves the room while everyone else laughs at it. I'm still not sure why Henry chose to do that of all things and why none of the characters seemed shocked by it? I certainly wasn't expecting it. XD

Regardless of their feelings, the two still get married. Henry complains to his friend Du Bartas (Hoshizuki Rio), a poet, about having to wear such heavy clothing for the wedding while he helps him get dressed. I thought that was a cute scene. Then the actual wedding was very nice. I loved the costumes! Marguerite hesitates to say "I do", clearly not wanting to go along with her mother's plan but her mother gives her a firm glare and she eventually says the words, though she's clearly unhappy. Ai and Reimi walked down the aisles at the end of the scene so I got to see Ai's costume up close as she walked by, which I thought was pretty cool. After the wedding, Marguerite is pissed off to see her bed covered in flowers, arranged by her maids upon her mother's request for her wedding night and they all hover around but Marguerite commands them to remove the flowers and to leave her alone (so I get the impression she did not let Henry into her bed that night XD). But like I said, they eventually talk and after she reveals to him what she found out about her mother and the fact her mother keeps sending spies to watch them, he is just as outraged and they kinda come to a mutual agreement that they will work through this together. ...as you might tell from my vague descriptions, I have actually no idea exactly what her mother's plot is or why it upsets them so much. lol I figured it has something to do with just trying to get the most power in France or something since Catherine did seem to marry all her children off to important figures.

I think I'm forgetting a bit of plot here but things heat up when Guise confronts Coligny, accusing him of some sort of treason I believe. Charles, who had been just conversing with Coligny in the church, refuses to believe this and when Guise pulls out his gun, steps in between them, telling Guise to put the gun down. Charles can't believe Coligny would do anything wrong but is proved wrong when Coligny then grabs Charles and puts a sword at his throat, telling Guise to step down or he'll kill the King. Charles is completely shocked and devastated at this betrayal. He manages to get out of Coligny's hold and grabs Guise's gun, and to everyone's surprise, shoots Coligny himself. I was very surprised to see them use actual gunpowder here. I was expecting the usual gunshot sound effect and instead got the real thing, which totally made me jump a little. lol I mean I'm used to that in most theater but rarely do they do that in zuka. I think the only other time I've seen them do that (of the shows I've seen at least) is in La Mariposa. Coligny dies. Charles blames Coligny's betrayal on the fact that he's Protestant and commands Guise to kill all Protestants, resulting in the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre. Guise is very happy to oblige and the next few scenes involve a whole lot of death, including the death of Louise (Ayaka Mari), a character with a small part but I did rather like and was quite sad when she was stabbed. I think I remember her having interest in one of the other characters but I don't remember who. Possibly Anjou or Du Baras. Before she dies, she manages to get to Henry to warn him. Henry barely manages to escape the massacre himself, mostly due to several of his servants' sacrifices, including one who Guise blinds by slicing his eyes. The poor thing spends most of that scene screaming while rolling on the floor in pain. I unfortunately forget the character's name so I can't identify the actress but I was impressed by her in the scene considering it was a pretty brutal bit. Thanks to Marguerite's interference, he manages to escape with the remaining survivors but is forced to denounce himself as Protestant and declare himself Catholic, which he only does due to the fact that his servants sacrificed themselves so he could live and he doesn't want to make this meaningless.

Act 1 ended somewhere around here. Though I sat there thinking to myself "well now that a good part of the cast is dead...what's left?" lol I admit my memory is more fuzzy on the events of Act 2. I know Henry is imprisoned for a bit but I forget if its Marguerite or Catherine who gets him out. I also remember Marguerite ends up being locked up for a while too. But I do remember a scene of Catherine helping at least one of them out by leaving the door open after her visit after she admits that she was wrong to use them. Everyone knows Charles is off his rocker at this point. There's a great scene where Henry comes in to confront him after the massacre and Charles is still in the church kneeling in front of the cross and Guise pulls the mantle off to reveal Coligny's body sprawled across the cross, which Charles totally freaks out over. And I can't remember if he eventually dies or is just declared unfit to rule but I do remember them talking about Anjou becoming King...except he is killed before this happens (I believe Guise kills him?). Like seriously this whole show is just a progression of deaths. XD The characters that die also all pretty much end up accumulating as ghosts, like Henry's mother, in some of the scenes. With veils similar to the dead in Elisabeth.

The now-blind servant survived and still does his best to serve Henry and its clear both Henry and Marguerite want to do their best to help him after his bold sacrifice. The relationship between Henry and Marguerite also develops mostly in the second act and has a more romantic aspect to it though I honestly don't remember much of this except for one of the duets between them. Guise tries to get Marguerite to join him but she rejects him, of course (which may be when she was imprisoned?? ahhh I should have written this review a lot earlier when this show was still fresh in my mind lol). I'm also guessing Guise is basically trying to rule France at this point. Catherine is full of a lot of guilt, having lost two of her sons and blames herself for this whole tragedy (at least that's what I got out of her dialogue to Henry) and kinda goes to Henry in the end, admitting she was wrong. Though I don't think he had much sympathy for her at that point.

I honestly don't even remember if Henry and Guise battle it out or if everyone just turns against Guise and acknowledges that he's a horrible person. Either way, things don't look good for him but instead of letting himself be imprisoned, Guise stabs himself. Though unfortunately for him he didn't commit suicide quite right and is still alive from his wound. Which results in him crawling around the floor of the stage in pain for quite some time while Henry and others watch, not feeling any sympathy for him whatsoever. The only character who mourns him is this one girl who was his lover (but I don't even remember her name. I suck, sorry. lol). I was really impressed by Reika's performance here. It came across as a pretty horrible way to die.

The show ends with very little of the cast still alive (lol) yet ends on an uplifting note because the bad guy is dead at least and Henry is on his way to becoming King of France with Marguerite at his side. The two of them managed to fall in love after all and their bond has grown even stronger through all of the tragedy. ...or at least that's what I got out of it. XD

Overall I was pretty impressed with the whole cast considering most of them are total babies in Soragumi. I've been looking at all their profiles on taka-wiki and its amazing how in their photos they all still have their baby fat going on and yet in this show they all looked so mature, you wouldn't have guessed they were babies if you didn't know ahead of time. The way they all acted was just so very...Soragumi to me too. I'm not sure how to explain it but its just the way they act and their presence that just made me go "yes, this is definitely Sora" even though I knew barely anyone in the cast. Also felt like Ai was trying to channel some Teru into her performance as I felt she used a similar tone of voice and stride. Reika definitely impressed me the most though. She looks so cute in her profile and yet she managed to portray such a dark and rough character and pull it off so well! I also very much loved Reimi as Marguerite. I love when musumes get to play strong female roles like that. Even though they did change the story to be more about Ai as Henry, Reimi still did not get lost in Ai's shadow and definitely held her own. I hope she stays around for a while to come, considering most musumes I like tend to leave shortly after I notice them. T_T; Seiko (Junya Chitose) is probably the only sienne in this show I actually knew of before the show, lol. Well I kinda knew Ai but Seiko had been more prolific to me and I thought she was fantastic in this show as Catherine. I expected her to be played out as the main villain since I get the impression she is in the book but instead she was presented more as the strong female character who is doing what she believes is best but then later comes to realize how truly wrong she was. When Charles starts losing it, I could really see the inner turmoil in Seiko's presentation of Catherine and her grief over Anjou's death was pretty powerful.

There was no mini finale to this show as it was long so there was only enough time for the simplistic curtain call that they do for most Bow Halls so I wasn't surprised there. It was nice though getting a mini talk at the end, since they do that for each Bow Hall performance (unlike at Mura and Tokyo where they only do it for special nights) though of course they didn't talk as long as they would for the first and final nights. I'd also like to note that on the Sky Stage report for the show, the siennes, mainly Akira (Coligny) talked about how difficult it was to not get their arms' stuck in the capes of their costumes, which I thought was super cute. That and Ai talked about how "sexy" Reimi's costume is. XD

I apologize once again for how lacking this report is. I had intended to try to do a in-depth summary of it since I know very few foreign fans saw this show live and I'd like to do it justice but I just can't remember a lot of it. My legs were also severely cramping up during a lot of the show so it made it semi hard to focus at times. I also was totally lost on some of the details. I just hope I may some day get a hold of a Sky Stage video of the show so I can then later revise this and see if I got anything wrong or forgot any major parts. Because I'd definitely like to watch this show again. It might not have been anything super amazing and it may be too dark and serious for some, but I really liked it! I definitely will try to get to know the cast better and hope to see at least some of them continue on and grow even more!

~Lyn