Friday night, the University at Buffalo Taiwanese Student Association put on a cultural event at the Student Union at UB's Amherst campus. The show was titled "Rewind" and was a play-style reenactment of a Taiwanese film.

The story opened with a group of Japanese Yakuza (mafia) trying to muscle in on night market in Taiwan to take some of the stall owners' money. Local muscle, in a battle that can best be described as utterly hilarious, fought off the infringing gang.

The guys who played the Yakuza characters wore Afro wigs and oversized sunglasses. To show how tough the local Taiwanese men were, one of them had an ironic six-pack painted onto his chest and stood stage right flexing while the rest of his gang engaged in battle.

The rest of the play told the story of a couple who had a love that could never be, as the girl was forced by her father to marry a policeman of higher social standing that the man she loved. There was no happy ending.

Despite a less than happy outcome, the enactment was really a comic work. The actors had fun with the crowd as they made fun of themselves. Oversized props, slapstick fight scenes and self-effacing characters kept the crowd laughing.

Throughout the play, certain skills and features of Taiwanese culture were showcased: pop music, traditional (and non-traditional) dance, costume, singing and piano playing.

Ultimately, the performance came away as a series of random happenings with an occasional plot tie-in that must have best been understood by those with some background knowledge of the culture, or perhaps of the film that was being parodied.

Even though the event seemed best catered to a certain group, there was never a sense of alienation for visitors. The comedy of Taiwanese youth is ultimately not so different from that of a young Americans; everyone loves to laugh.

To learn more about UB's Taiwanese Student Association visit their website at http://ubtsa.org/, once it returns from being down for repairs.