Image: Fernando Aldaz and Yas Takahashi. Photo courtesy of Fernando Aldaz.
SWEET
“Star Trek” buffs will recall veteran TV scribe Wincelberg wrote “Dagger of the Mind,” the episode featuring the first appearance of the Vulcan mind-meld. His humanist message feels a little dated here, but this Prince Livingston Players production deftly explores what genuine communication is. If “Kataki” ultimately comes to feel more like a playwriting exercise than a compelling story, it’s nevertheless a reminder that “enemy” is really just a word.
Charlotte Stoudt – LA Times
SWEET
Director Peter Haskell brings out this emotional depth in the text, masterfully massaging stretches of silence into powerful conflict, and his elongated transitions between scenes come to embody the Beckettian pace of life for this stranded pair. Haskell is aided by Louis Roth’s fight choreography, which is at times scary in its violence, and of course by Aldaz’s and Takahashi’s moving performances, so authentic in their humanity. What is most enjoyable, though, is the return to theater’s origins in basic movement and expression. This creates an atmosphere reminiscent of a time when we took more than a moment to contemplate life.
Mayank Keshaviah – LA Weekly
SWEET
There are many admirable aspects of this production, but most striking is the performance of Yas Takahashi. His portrayal of one of the two characters in the play, a Japanese soldier stranded on a lone Pacific island, is absolutely splendid. He has great stage presence, concentration and fervor; a nimbleness of body; a fire in the eyes. Speaking only Japanese, of which I know not one word, he is still able still to enable me to grasp his life. His emotional choices are courageous and varied. Yas Takahashi is an outstanding actor of great appeal.
Eve Meadows – Stagehappenings
