Some words of wisdom to live by uttered sincerely by the ghost of the dead mother to her already re-married husband and two daughters: “Happiness is like the milk you put in a bottle—when this bottle is full, you fill the milk in another bottle—that is how happiness should be passed on.” With these words, audiences left the annual play put on by the Japanese Department at the end of last month, contemplating on a story that was sad, but humorous at the same time.

The script of the play, B•HAPPY, was written by Hashicuchi, a Japanese playwright, and with the help of Dr. Yasutaka Takehisa, a professor at the Department, who negotiated with the author, students were able to get the permission to put their interpretation of the play on stag. With this liberty, those participated in the play decided to add a new zest to the play by having some roles played by the opposite sex. For example, they had a female student to play one of the main characters, the father.

The student that played the father, Kuo Shu-chin, a freshman of the Department could have fooled anybody with her deep voice and strong built. Yet, she concedes that it was rather painful to wear special underwear so as to appear more “masculine”. Yet, she was pleased to be able to practice the Japanese she had learned in class on stage. In fact, students’ Japanese, particularly its accent, was something the supervisor of the play, Dr. Yasutaka Takehisa, paid meticulous attention to. Apparently his efforts paid off as students all spoken clearly and beautifully on the night of the play.

Language aside, students’ performances were also commendable. Zhang Ren-fan, a sophomore who played one of the young sisters, for instance, demonstrated that she had not forgotten how to be a sweet, cute little girl. She made nearly everyone in the audience want to hug and protect her instantly. Equally challenging, the student, Shiao Pai-chi, a junior who played the dead mother, on the contrary, had to act slow and demonstrate some deliberate wisdom. Yet, she would not have traded her role with anybody else’s as she thoroughly enjoyed her role and the play. The same could be said about everyone participated in the play.