Garasu no Kamen Synopses
Tankoubon 11
Two Helens.
Selections for Helen Keller.
In the third test the candidates had to perform Helen on stage with other actors.
The committee members think the best ones are Emi Kanaya and Ayumi Himekawa.
Maya's Helen has been someway too original.
Anyway there is a 4th test: the 5 candidates have to sit on a chair and wait as Helen would
do. The committee is observing them, but they don't know. Suddendly an alarm bell rings. The
girls rise up screaming, but Maya and Ayumi don't even move (as it happened to Patty Duke at the audition
for the role of Helen in the movie version of "The miracle worker": she won the
Oscar prize at the age of 16 for her interpretation!).
The test is over. The committee enters the room. Kanaya understands and goes away.
Ayumi heard the bell, but she knew she had to interpret Helen.
Maya...Well, she forgot being Maya Kitajima...
The committee has to choose between Maya and Ayumi. They decide to vote, and at the end,
Maya and Ayumi get the same number of votes! Utako votes for both!
They will both interpret Helen, alternating.
Masumi's lesson.
Presentation ceremony of the play "The miracle worker", introduction of the actors.
After the conference Masumi Hayami meets Maya and congratulates with her. Maya as usual
answers back, but this time Masumi Hayami doesn't laugh! He seizes her face with two fingers
and tells her to behave better: even if she hates him, she doesn't have to show it. In the world of stars,
etiquette and good manners are the most important things.
...If you have talent but people hate you, you will not have success.
The miracle.
The actors start practicing. Utako works both with Ayumi and Maya. Ayumi seems definitely the best to the other actors, who laugh at Maya's Helen, and still Utako feels more and more involved by Maya's performance. Maya and Ayumi don't want to watch each other's rehearsals.
Sakurakoji is informed that Maya and Ayumi are double-casting. He thinks of Maya more and
more. One day he decides to go visit her, and he finds her in a park. They laugh and have
fun together... Sakurakoji is still in love with her! He accidentally touches Maya's hand:
Maya's heart starts beating fast! A policeman tells them to go home. At the level crossing,
they separate. Maya runs away, thinking about Sakurakoji's touch...
See you later... Later when Maya? There's only acting in your mind! I'm always the one
who looks for you...
Maya and Ayumi need to understand the most important scene of the play: at the end of the
story, while taking water with a pump, finally Helen Keller understands the connection
between water and the word 'water', the only word she used to know when she was 6 months,
before she came ill.
What does Helen think in that moment? What are her feelings?
How can the actresses interpret the miracle?
Ayumi accidentally plugs in with wet hands: she is almost shocked by electricity!
Well... This will be her miracle! Her miracle moment will be a water shock!
Maya is walking aroung during a fair. A child is playing with a water baloon, which falls
down and explodes. Maya thinks of her Helen: the moment of the miracle will be like the
explosion of the baloon!
The first show at Daito Plaza.
The new Daito building is completed. Shops are located on floors 1 to 6, restaurants on
floors 7 and 8, and on the 9th floor the Daito Plaza Theatre.
The actors of "The miracle worker" have been nominated for the Prize of the Japanese Academy
of Art Festival, Drama section. Some members of that jury are at Daito Plaza to watch the
play. The actor/actress who wins that prize will become immediately popular.
In the first show, Ayumi performs Helen.
The Tsukikage Company, included the sensei, and Masumi Hayami, are there.
Maya is not watching the show. She is waiting in the foyer, eating taiyaki (Japanese
fish-shaped sweets filled with azuki jam). Masumi Hayami shows up. Maya remembers the last
time they met, when he reprimanded her for her bad manners, and tries to greet him.
He laughs and he sits near her. He asks her for a taiyaki and offers her something to drink.
Maya explains to him that she doesn't want to see Ayumi's Helen because she has her own
Helen.
Masumi: Why are you so in love with theatre? Haven't you ever though of interpreting your
own life, maybe a happier life, instead of other people's lives? Having a boyfriend, dating
him, hanging out with friends, enjoying student's life?...
Maya: I don't know, and I don't know what happiness is either. I just know that when I
act I feel some warmth that fills me with courage. And this feeling spreads into my body
making me feel alive! This is the only thing I know...
Masumi: I envy you!
They call Masumi: the director is waiting for him. Masumi smiles at Maya and thanks her for
the taiyaki: it reminded him of his childhood.
Maya is confused. Did he really say that he envies her?
Ayumi's performance is perfect. The audience loves her.
It happens that while fighting with Utako, her face hits a chair: Ayumi goes on with her
performance, showing her bleeding nose on stage. She is a genius indeed!
Tsukikage looks very happy and proud of the young actress.
The show has come to the end. Maya can hear the public clapping hands loud!
Attention!
Original story by Suzue Miuchi. Synopses by Francesca.
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