How powerful are children?
Well, in the title story of “The Carp Who Would Not Quit,” the fervent encouragement of youngsters helps a koi named Hiro climb the highest waterfall in the land. Whenever Hiro wants to give up, prompted audience members yell “ganbatte,” Japanese for “Do your best,” and he’s inspired to keep on pushing.
The tale of the determined koi is one of six fables in “Carp,” a spirited 50-minute import from the Honolulu Theatre for Youth that opened Saturday at Minneapolis’ Children’s Theatre Company.
Writer and director Reiko Ho has culled these stories from Japanese folk tales. They are told with music, puppetry and good cheer by the versatile trio of Hermenigildo Tesoro Jr., aka Junior Tesoro, Serina Dunham and Mattea Mazzella.
Ho takes a simple, no-fuss approach to “Carp.” She has the actors put on elemental props to suggest fish, mice, birds, rabbits and other creatures. Mazzella, who plays all the music, heightens the tension with taiko drumming and sometimes takes us into dreamy realms with warm playing of the koto, a harp-like zither.
“Carp” flows on a river of charm as the characters go on their adventurous journeys. All the lessons from these fables offer gentle instruction for two-legged humans.
Greed is the theme of a story about a woodcutter and a generous mouse that gives gold to its pure-hearted guests. In the piece, one who is grateful and honorable is rewarded while the other that is craven and graceless gets nothing.
In another tale, a crane gets rescued by a poor couple. The bird bestows gifts that potentially will continue for a long time if the couple are able to honor the bird’s sole wish, which is not to be seen while it does its gift-giving work. Of course, the moment you tell an adult, never mind a kid, not to do something is the moment they really want to do it.
