REVIEW: SHUNGA ALERT - The most timid topic told in the most explicit way

©️Shunga Alert

Shunga Alert is a piece that takes Japan’s erotic art tradition and blows it up into an outrageous stage adventure. With comical characters, absurd scenarios, and a complete lack of restraint, it introduces the history and sex culture around shunga - explicit paintings that escaped censorship in Japan. In the story, a frustrated artist, left by his lover for lacking sexual skill, embarks on a journey to learn the “ultimate” ways of making love in order to create his masterpiece of Shunga.

His companions on this journey - a sex doll and a virtual idol - are sharply connected to Japanese contemporary culture, and they are presented with a kind of creativity that is both ridiculous and clever. Performed live with actors against comic-style backgrounds, the show uses live-projection with impressive precision to keep the wild storytelling moving at a fast pace.

But beneath the laughter lies the show’s most divisive element. Their journey inevitably passes through brothels and exaggerated depictions of sex acts, including scenes where a sex worker’s body is used for absurd visual gags. The sex worker was merely an object of penetration and spectacle, which strips the subject of any dignity or respect. The piece makes its offensive intentions clear from the very beginning with its content warning, and it fully delivers on that promise.

Yet, beyond the filth and shock value, Shunga Alert also aims at something broader. Towards the end, it shifts into a global perspective, pointing out the many sexual acts banned in countries around the world, some of them surprising, some almost laughable. It suggests that shame and silence around sex are themselves absurd constructs, and that laughter might be the first step toward breaking them down.

For those willing to take it as a provocation and not a statement of values, Shunga Alert is filthy, fearless, and undeniably funny. It’s a comedy that shocks as much as it entertains, and one that pushes its audience to laugh even while questioning what exactly they’re laughing at.

★★★★

For more information, please visit: https://www.edfringe.com/tickets/whats-on/shunga-alert

Credits:

Cast: Kayo Tamura, Ryo Nishihara, Nono Miyasaka, Seri Yanai, Daniel Wishes.
Director: Kayo Tamura
Art Designer: Seri Yanai
Writer: Daniel Wishes
Composer&Sound Design: Liko Takada

Content warning: This material contains sexual topics. Viewer discretion is advised.