Does “The W's Tragedy” originate from a mystery masterpiece? How to enjoy tracing the roots of the title

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2017.08.18Hiroaki Saito

“The W's Tragedy” Synopsis

Shizuka Mita (Hiroko Yakushimaru) is a trainee at a theater company who aspires to become an actress. He auditioned for the lead role in the theater company's next performance, ``The W's Tragedy,'' but was unsuccessful. The person who won the leading role was Kaori (Miho Takagi), a fellow student. Shizuka was given a small role as a maid and a teleprompter. . By chance, Shizuka, who is depressed, meets Moriguchi (Kinori Sera), a former member of a theater company who now works at a real estate agency. Moriguchi falls in love with Shizuka at first sight and asks Shizuka to marry him if she doesn't become an actress. Later, as the performance of ``The W's Tragedy'' begins, Shizuka accidentally stumbles upon the scene of a scandal involving Sho Hatori (Yoshiko Mita), the troupe's star actress. Dohara, Sho's patron, dies of hunger in Sho's hotel room during an affair. Fearing that a scandal will be reported, Sho proposes to Shizuka that she replace him in exchange for the lead role in ``The W's Tragedy''. Shizuka accepts the proposal out of her attachment to the leading role. .

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Shizuko Natsuki's original work used as a "play within a play"

Hiroko Yakushimaru shows off her all-powerful performance on stage. "I killed my grandfather!" The moment she shouted that, the footlights at the front of the stage turned on all at once, and Verdi's ``Day of Wrath (from ``Requiem'') rang out loudly.

The highlight of the climax of "The W's Tragedy". It was directed by Yukio Ninagawa... However, the director of the movie ``The W's Tragedy'' was not Ninagawa. Yukio Ninagawa plays the director in the performance ``The W's Tragedy'' by the theater company to which the main character, Shizuka Mita, belongs. Naturally, his ideas are incorporated into the stage production. The movie ``The W's Tragedy'' has the same title as the stage performance in the movie.

This work is based on Shizuko Natsuki's "The W's Tragedy," but the overall story is original. The play "The W's Tragedy", which is a "play within a play", is based on Natsuki's original work. It's a little confusing. "The W's Tragedy" by Shizuko Natsuki. Just by hearing the title, mystery fans will know that this is an homage to a classic. It is based on Ellery Queen's `` The Tragedy of X ,'' ` `The Tragedy of Y, '' and `` The Tragedy of Z '' by Ellery Queen, who is known as a master of mystery novels. That's because it's an apt title. Just as each letter of the alphabet has a meaning in the story, the ``W'' in Natsuki's novel symbolizes ``Woman'' and ``Watsuji'' (the main character's surname).

Shizuko Natsuki also wrote a work called `` The Tragedy of M, '' but she also wrote `` And Then There Were None,'' which pays homage to the masterpiece ``And Then There Were None,'' by Agatha Christie, a master mystery writer along with Ellery Queen. ing. The setting here is also similar to Christie's work. Speaking of ``And Then There Were None,'' a TV drama starring Tatsuya Fujiwara was also aired in 2016. The title is `` And then there was no one left '' and ``,'' is added. Although the story is completely unrelated, considering the connection between the titles, the topic spreads in various directions.

By the way, Christie's "And Then There Were None" has been made into a movie many times since it was directed by René Clair in 1945, but it has never been a masterpiece. Maybe it's because it's a difficult subject to make into a movie... Looking further into the title, this work was originally called "Ten Little Niggers," but after passing through "Ten Little Indians," it became "And Then." There Were None.'' This is because the terms ``Nigger'' and ``Indian'' both have racial discrimination issues (although both refer to ``dolls'').

Even though the content is unrelated, the title is similar!?

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