Theatre Replacement: Brazen in Title, Modest in Ambition by Bret Fetzer Feb 23, 2007

by Tania

Theatre Replacement's Sexual Practices of the Japanese has its moments: Audience interaction that turns into a giddy, giggling vaudeville; a sad encounter in a love hotel bthat spins towards embarrassed failure; a comically sniping argument about the virtues of different baseball statistics. But most of the show points towards something better that never quite arrives -- the intertwined stories never really gain any momentum; the description of a sexual assault on the subway never quite grips you emotionally; the Ichiro fandom never adds up to anything at all. Some sexual stereotypes are mildly mocked, but the mockery never leads to a more complex view of Japanese sexual mores. The three actors give the thin material all they've got and keep the show in motion, but in the end they're left to stand there like the empty suits that form the show's set.