Komachi Fuden (Tale of Komachi Told by the Wind) by Shogo Ota

Synopsis

Based on the classical noh play, "Sotoba Komachi," the play treats the interiority of an old woman, Komako, by alternating reality and dream.
She, however, does not speak a single word.

Dressed in a "twelve-layered" court kimono, the old woman enters the stage slowly step by step. She hovers between dream and reality, recalling her youth. To a rendition of Vivaldi's "Piccolo Concerto in A Minor" at half tempo, various characters carry in furniture and reconstruct her room for her. The woman awakens slowly and begins her day. While Edith Piaff's "La Vie en Rose" is heard from the gramophone, the old woman prepares some instant noodles for breakfast. When she recalls the Lesser Captain who loved her, he appears in military uniform in her room. The tune changes to Damia's chanson, "Sombre Dimanche" and the woman remembers their love together. However, her real time landlord visits her rooms and destroys her reverie.

Following hard on this are the goings-on in the family that lives next door. The father scolds the son who has difficulty coping with ordinary living while the sister mediates between them. Overhearing their conversation, the woman worries about and feels affection for the young man. In her fantasy, she and the man enjoy a sexual encounter. This, too, is interrupted by a real time visit from her doctor and a nurse. They explain to the landlord why it takes so long for her to die. From the gramophone a folk song is heard and the doctor and nurse dance away to it. The time-space of the old woman's room collapses, the furniture floats away, reality fades, and the old woman is alone on the stage. Into her reverie, she beckons the young man and enjoys a rendezvous with him. But even he leaves and she is again alone. Then as if abandoning herself to the whims of a gentle breeze, she too fades into oblivion.