Pandemic Touched on Sisterhood and Betrayal with Yurei

Last weekend, local horror theatre group Pandemic Collective premiered their latest production, Yurei. Based on a classic Japanese poem and the tropes of traditional Japanese ghost films, Yurei brought up a lot of important social themes and definitely gave viewers a good scare.

The show starts out with a young Japanese couple, Amira and Yo, freshly moved into a new apartment in the city. They’re trying to start a new life, but it’s clear that something’s not right. The husband seems controlling and borderline abusive, and the wife is clearly depressed and not sleeping.

The stage is already set for a traditional gothic or horror tale, and from there things keep getting worse. The couple is haunted by the ghost of the woman they killed, who has transformed from a mere sad and lost spirit to an angry, vengeful ghost, complete with the long hair and spooky demeanor.

While on the surface this is a campy tale about a haunting, there are a lot of deeper issues to unpack beneath the surface. Yurei becomes a demon because she is scorned, and eventually brutally murdered, by Yo because of her homely appearance. Although he is taken in by the beauty and purity of Amira, he soon becomes abusive and aggressive with her, continuing the cycle of controlling behavior.

In addition to gender roles, beauty standards, and recurring domestic violence, the show tackles arranged marriage; Yo and Yurei were only betrothed because of a family arrangement. And it deals with the inner turmoil of the tortured artist; Amira is a writer, and is crafting a poem as she descends into madness, which, of course, turns out to be the same cursed poem that the play is based on.

Overall, this play did a great job of dealing with bigger issues while also delivering some good scares. And this is quite a feat, considering that they did the production in a very small art space, with an extremely basic set. Despite a few glitches, like extremely limited seating on folding chairs, and a PA system that picked up some radio signals during the show, the troupe really did a great job with suspension of disbelief. After all, who isn’t scared of ghosts with spooky long hair? And if you are afraid of them, what does that say about your cultural biases, or your focus on physical beauty?

If you didn’t catch Yurei last weekend, you missed out. But have no fear … or plenty of fear, because Pandemic is always rolling out new shows. Look for another announcement soon, or buy season tickets to be sure not to miss anything!

Photo courtesy Facebook