Off-B'way Review: SUMO

Red Concepción, Kris Bona, Paco Tolson, Ahmad Kamal,
and Scott Keiji Takeda in SUMO
at The PublicTheater. Photo credit: Joan Marcus.

At first Lisa Sanaye Dring’s SUMO, at the Public Theater in a co-production with Ma-Yi Theater Company and La Jolla Playhouse, seems to be plotted like so many familiar sports movies. The scrappy underdeveloped kid struggles manfully to build himself up and fulfill his dream of making it to the top. The grizzled veteran treats him harshly to toughen him up for the impossible climb. Commercial interests distract the newcomer, but he eventually triumphs on the athletic field. 

Dring’s script does contain these cliched tropes, but she also incorporates deep character development and a complex meditation on the sport of sumo itself and its relation to Japan’s cultural heritage. Director Ralph B. Pena and fight directors James Yaegashi and Chelsea Pace create muscular and fast-moving staging for both the scenes related to the story and the fascinating sumo matches to which the all-male cast commits themselves fully. Taiko drummer Shih-Wei Wu provides dynamic percussive accompaniment.  Hana S. Kim’s spectacular, gorgeous video designs, Paul Whitaker’s scene-shifting lighting, and Wilson Chin’s sumo-ring setting create a varied and intense arena for ideas and conflicting ambitions.

Earl T. Kim and Scott Keiji Takeda 
in SUMO.
Credit: Joan Marcus

Narrating the action and offering commentary are three Shinto priests or Kannushi (Paco Tolson, Kris Bona, and Viet Vo in drily comic turns.) We follow the young protagonist Akio (Scott Keiji Takeda in an impressive Off-Broadway debut) as he progresses from lowly apprentice to champion. The borderline sadistic grand master Mitsuo (a commanding David Shih) drives Akio hard, even resorting to physical abuse. Along the way, Dring gives us a crash course in the significance of sumo and its religious, mythological origins. The rigid ceremony of massive mammoths pushing each other until one is on the ground or outside the ring is much more than grunting and sweating. Dring explores the mystical meaning of the ceremonies to its participants and spectators. She also charts the interrelationships and delicate emotions of the members of Mitsuo’s heya or stable. 

Scott Keiji Takeda and 
David Shih in SUMO.
Credit: Joan Marcus

In addition to Akio, there are Ren and Fumio (compelling Ahad Kamal and Red Concepcion) whose clandestine romantic union provides a moving subplot, the earnest So (tender Michael Hisamoto), and Shinta (funny and heartbreaking Earl T. Kim) whose bulk belies his sympathetic nature. Gradually the majority of the wrestlers’ human flaws force them to drop out of the heya, leaving only Akio and Mitsuo. Ultimately, Akio must chose between the rigid macho strictures of Mitsuo and a more empathetic approach to his beloved sport. Dring’s plot arc is a bit predictable, but her thoughtful examination of sumo culture and Pena’s exhilarating staging make this a gripping takedown match.

March 5-30. Ma-Yi Theater Company, the Public Theater and La Jolla Playhouse at the Public Theater, 425 Lafayette St., NYC. Running time: two hours and 20 mins. including intermission. publictheater.org