#stage analysis

Dear Anon,

Yeah sure, it’s a pleasure ^^

Though, the two Snakes are very hard to compare because they are basically completely different characters in the two arcs, and also fulfill entirely different roles in the musicals respectively. As such, this comparison will focus more on the technical aspects of the actors instead of characterisation.

Before we start, I shall first list the points that would result in an unfair comparison if not accessed differently for this review.

1. Stage time

The stage time the two Snakes are given in their respective musicals is very different; the more stage time one has, the more opportunities to shine. Snake plays a significantly larger role in ‘Noah’s Arc Circus’ (NAC from here on) than he does in ‘Tango on the Campania’ (TotC).

2. Role and purpose

Snake is an altogether different character in the Circus arc than he is in the Campania arc. In the former, he is a timid character who hides his fears through distance. He feels at home at the Circus, but his ‘home’ was infiltrated by strangers, hence his behaviour was more aggressive.

In the Campania arc however, he has already spent a bit of time in his new home with a new master. He feels like a fish out of water, but is eager to get accustomed to his new environment. He has opened up entirely to his ‘new family…’, and has less to hide. In short, his edge has been smoothed out significantly.

Because of this stark contrast in character change, I shall only make comparison based on how well the actors managed to convey their respective purposes.

3. Stage role

NAC Snake was given much broader varieties to his performance than TotC’s did. In NAC, Snake was allowed to act, dance, sing, improvise, and even partake in comedic scenes with AberHanks (Gosh he’s funny!) TotC Snake however, only had acting parts. As such, I shall only compare the Snakes based on acting quality.

‘Noah’s Arc Circus’ - Tamaki Yuki

Good things first!

Tamaki is a charisma bomb. Of course his costume and make-up are superb, which does help, but his charisma alone makes him look like he walked right out of the manga. Tamaki conveys this other-worldly charm fantastically. He has this energy that piques our curiousity, and has the star power befitting a first tier star from a popular circus. I immediately understood why people would travel miles and pay to see Snake Man at the Noah’s Ark.

I mean, look at him⇊.

He also carries this very cold aura which is very accurate to the emotionally distant Snake from the Circus arc.

The greatest feat about Tamaki is that he is a fantastic voice actor. He has an incredible vocal range, and is capable of impersonating old and young, masculine and feminine, wild and tame, you name it. The emotions he is capable of pouring into his voice acting are also superb; the quality is almost comparable to professionals who do voice acting for a living.

On the other hand…

While Tamaki’s voice acting is superb, his stage acting sure has some space for improvement. Most have probably seen NAC (or any Kuromyu) on a DVD recording, and thanks to the editing his role is adequately conveyed. As a stage actor however, he really under-performs.

Tamaki is mostly static on stage; he only uses his voice to play the role, but seems not to have considered the medium of body language much.

If we look at this scene ⇊ we, we only see Snake walk up to Sebas and we can tell the snake on his left arm is talking. If we switch off the sound and/or subtitles, we can’t tell what message he is trying to convey from his body language. Is it a positive, neutral, or negative message? We are clueless. I remember sitting there in the theatre looking at snake, but there was just nothing to see.

In this scene ⇊ Wilde is threatening Sebas that if he so much as set one foot inside, he’ll sink his fangs into his neck. While Tamaki’s emoting expresses the aggression more or less (on recorded footage), we can’t tell that it’s a threat that he is making without the spoken message. In a theatre, all the audience could work with was his voice acting. This conversation with Sebas would really have benefited from Snake hunching down in preparation for a charge, for example.

In this scene ⇊ Snake is impersonating three different snakes. But from his body language we also can’t tell whether multiple snakes were talking, or when he switched the voice from one snake for another.

In short, Tamaki’s acting might be more suited for a film media, rather than theatre. At the beginning of the Furukawa Era Kuromyu, I’ve seen a lot of people say they can’t stand Yunbastian because he was moving so much. Yes, it is quite dramatic on footage, but that, people, is what is necessary to convey a message in a big theatre.

(It is quite a common quirk that theatre actors have when they get film roles. Most theatre actors who play for a movie have the experience of being yelled at by the director: “you speak too loud, don’t make such big movements, face your opponent, not the camera!”)

‘Tango on the Campania’ - Harashima Motohisa

Good things first!

Harashima’s performance mostly shines where Tamaki’s paled. His body language is very good; without having to hear or understand his lines, we can tell what emotion he is expressing.

In this scene ⇊ where Snake is being treated like a laughing stock, we can tell very clearly from his posture and movements what he feels. He walks and turns away from his master, communicating shame of himself. The hand he flings into the air as well as him shaking the head express Snake’s powerlessness and defeatism expertly.

Harashima’s approach of how to represent his snakes is very different from Tamaki’s. Tamaki mostly focuses on the voice acting for his snakes, while Harashima uses his entire body to ‘impersonate’ (insnakernate?) his companions. In this scene where he says: “understood,” to Sebastian, he uses the arm and the slight tilt of the head to communicate consent, fully representing Oscar in voice and action (had he had arms). Only afterwards did he return to normal ‘Snake’, and points at Oscar, signifying who spoke.

In short, Tamaki!Snake is the interpreter of his snakes, whereas Harashima!Snake is the proxy agent of his snakes.

Harashima’s emoting is also very vivid. In this scene ⇊ he expresses his scepticism towards Lizzie’s identity as daughter to the head of the Chivalric Order. Through his emoting which is further strengthened by his superb body language, he allows us to immediately understand that he doubts something, without hearing his spoken lines.

Harashima is not just the proxy agent of his snakes, he is also a character on his own. During the finale of the musical, we see him interacting with the snakes, caressing Emily and snuggling up to her to give each other comfort. This is really where Tamaki pales in comparison, because Tamaki!Snake did not seem to love his snakes as much as Harashima does.

This moment ⇊ is one where we see the superiority of Harashima’s physical acting. Snake is still preoccupied with Emily, but Oscar already dashes forward on his own, seemingly yanking Snake’s left arm with his eagerness. “Wait! This smell!” Oscar says, and Snake reacts to Oscar’s pronouncement.

Snake in the Campania arc has mellowed down and opened up drastically, and Harashima manages to capture that energy quite well. His bond with his snakes as well as with his new master is something this actor manages to convey very well.

On the other hand…

Just like Tamaki, Harashima pales where Tamaki shines. In the Campania arc Snake does not need to be a star like he used to be in the circus, so there is no need for gaudy expressions. But Harashima!Snake’s presence seems quite weak in comparison to his predecessor. While his acting is superb, he is not very good at keeping the audience’s attention on him. Snake is a timid and silent character, but such characters too can have stage presence. When he is in the background, his acting might have benefited from some ‘active’ passiveness… do you understand what I mean? He could coil his shoulders a bit more, or bite his lips, or hide behind his snakes, for example.

Though Harashima’s voice acting in terms of emotion is great, his range is not as great as Tamaki’s. Perhaps it is because he damaged his throat (like Furukawa said in the curtain call, and if that’s the case I’ll take my words back), but Harashima’s voice was sore at all times. He did manage to show the contrast between characters of the sweet Emily, the energetic Oscar or the dominant Wilde, but he conveyed the ages of the snakes less well than Tamaki did.

Conclusion

I think both Snakes characterised their respective roles fantastically; they were both the Snake they were supposed to be. Though both are fantastic, I would say I do have a preference.

Overall, I would say Harashima is the superiour Snake because he fulfills the purpose of his media (stage theatre) better than Tamaki did. Tamaki’s performance mostly shines in his superb voice acting and stage presence, but these two alone are not enough to be a good ‘stage’ actor in my opinion.

While Harashima’s voice acting and presence pale a bit in comparison to Tamaki, his body language allows even the spectators in the back of the theatre to enjoy and understand Snake well. And that, ultimately, is in my opinion the prime objective of any stage performer. You perform for the entire theatre, not just the few lucky ones on the front rows.