Kuroko

by Tetsuro Shigematsu

A father who feels his family is better off without him … a daughter who retreats completely into the virtual world … a family torn apart by the past with little hope for a future. But each discovers the desire to save each other, and perhaps themselves. From the acclaimed Canadian playwright, comedian, and radio broadcaster Tetsuro Shigematsu, author of the award-winning plays Empire of the Son and 1 Hour Photo , comes a powerful display of theatrical and literary Kuroko . Maya is a hikikomori (引きこもり), an extreme recluse who hasn’t left her bedroom in five years, spending all her time in Virtual Reality. So her father hires an actor to befriend her online and entice her back into the real world. How? By visiting the scariest place on earth, Aokigahara, the “Suicide Forest.” When we lose what gives our lives purpose, when the distance between us and those closest to us seems impossible to bridge, where do we turn? Can virtual worlds offer real solutions? Is an honourable death better than a meaningless life? Kuroko is a story about a family who are worlds apart, separated by pain, from past and present, alone in the real and virtual worlds, each unsure of the way back home. It is a story about finding something real in the places we least expect it, of building bridges where healing seems impossible, and saving others as a way of saving ourselves. Like good speculative fiction that is ostensibly about the future, but actually addresses the present, Kuroko may be set in Japan, but it is in fact an examination of contemporary Western culture.

160 pages, Paperback

Published December 22, 2020

Reviews

[Kyle · Rating 5 out of 5]

A provocative retelling of an ancient tale with a posthuman edge, set in Gibson’s “default setting for the future” (2012, p. 125), the Tanaka family shares the same small space, but live in different worlds. For Maya, online gaming offers more than real life ever could; her father Hiroshi belongs to the patriarchal bubble yet fails on all fronts while his wife Naomi is thrust into the role of income-earner and potential widow. Nobody seems to thrive, except for the only other characters on stage: the Sphinx-like Ms. Asada and the “fifth business” outsider Kenzo, who both fulfill their roles in the family drama as if they were Jungian archetypes set loose on stage. It was wonderful to catch a glimpse of true virtual reality’s potential with the wormhole simulation, making the time setting of now an encapsulation of all that has happened and yet to come.

[Becky Kolt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Holy, this play is simply mind blowing. One family living in two separate worlds, navigating tragic loss individually. Heart breaking, devastating, loving, and so so good. If you were looking to start reading plays I HIGHLY recommend started off with Kuroko.

[Jadyn Kavanagh · Rating 1 out of 5]

hey so what was that???

an immersive reading gone wrong??

i just want to read the ballad of songbirds and snakes FREE ME PLEASE