“The unhinged new fairytale you didn’t know you needed”
Once again, a production at Sadler’s Wells that sits with you long after it ends. Prolific writer-director Hideki Noda did not restrain himself in this production of -320° F.
From the beginning to the end, the audience is left chasing after the ever-faster story and flurry of costumes, set changes, sound and running subtitles. All the best intentions of the world would struggle making sense of the more than 2h-long, no interval, production of this show, especially as we are flung from past, to present, to future, leaving us never truly certain of which age we are seeing. However, for a show entirely in Japanese, Noda does a great job in helping the audience understand the rollercoaster plot with the help of subtitles, wonderful acting, and superb transitions between scenes.
The convoluted plot and exaggerated length is made easier by the frequent humoristic scenes or references (ie. who fertilised Cleopatra’s eggs?) and the fast-paced transitions made up of sound, lighting and big white sheets, leaving no time to doze off. Noda really uses up the entire stage and gets creative to represent scenes such as a lift’s ascent to the 300th floor of a building using light and sound, a helicopter ride using ladders, or a queen’s extravagant height using reflective surfaces.
The whole cast was perfectly chosen for this show, all playing in the characteristic Japanese style of over-exaggeration, at least for a European audience. The coordination of the cast to create moving beasts made up of bones is remarkable. The extravagant hairstyles and costumes of most actors give the impression of a science-fiction setting. Only the main character seems devoid of all physical uniqueness. The decision to include a deaf cast member from the very beginning, narrating the play in sign language while she is, ironically, being interpreted by a speaking actor, is highly unusual and gives a preliminary taste of the director’s message.
From dinosaur fossils to Cleopatra, Faust, eugenics, and bananas, it seems this play was born from a psychedelic trip… until the greater purpose is revealed towards the end, unveiling deep ethical issues that may bring a tear to the eye in its dramatically poignant exit, leaving the entire room in silence, reflecting on the world of the deaf.
Speaking of, using angels as a metaphor for disabled people was a sweet way to introduce the subject from the very start to an oblivious audience, and made the slow realisation of what the play was actually talking about all the more touching.
This counter-cultural play is refreshing, albeit a little all-over-the-place, and brings much needed conversations on the debate between scientific progress and the acceptance of disability.
320°F runs until the 11th of July at Sadler’s Wells. Tickets here.