REVIEW: LOVE IN ACTION at Sadler’s Wells Theatre 31 October – 2 November 2024

Nagasaki. A city in Japan whose fate was decided by the weather conditions on that tragic 9 August 1945. What has become of its inhabitants? What were their lives like at the time before the destruction takes place. What are the repercussions of war on the citizens who survive the bombs?

‘Love in Action’ is a fictitious play set in a historical time in August 1945 Japan. Inspired by the Russian novelist Dostoevsky’s The Brothers Karamazov, the writer director Hideki Noda created a plot that revolves around three (half) brothers of the Karamatsu Clan, a family of fireworks makers. The youngest Karamatsu Ariyoshi (Masami Nagasawa) is a cook at the church. The middle son Karamatsu Iwan (played by Eita Nagayama) is a physicist. The eldest son Karamatsu Tomitaro (played by Jun Matsumoto) is a fireworks maker and has been accused of murdering his father. The trial takes place in the courtroom as aeroplanes fly above the city. The key events of the original literary classic that involve the love triangle between the oldest son and the father, have been re-imagined by Hideki Noda into a love triangle between the father Karamatsu Hyodo (played by Nauto Takenaka) and the son Tomitaro, over a woman from the red light district, Grushenka (played by Masami Nagasawa).

The acting of the entire ensemble cast was superb, a fusion of Japanese theatrical form and Shakespearean style, high energy in physical theatre, fast paced and cleverly directed by Noda. There were several quick onstage costume changes and scene transitions between the courtroom and the stories of the three brothers as the flashbacks unfold in front of the audience. The writer director Hideki Noda also acts and takes on the role of the defence lawyer, Shiranui Katsuzo, whose aim is to ensure Tomitaro’s acquittal. Madame Russasky, played by Nobue Iketani, was charismatic on stage and gave a comical outrageous performance as the wife of the Russian consul. As she is unable to attend court due to her move back to Russia, she has provided a tape recorder as her testimony. Is Tomitaro guilty or not?

The production ‘Love in Action’ has been on tour all the way from Tokyo Japan to London and cast and creative teams have captivated and warmed up the hearts of the British audience, closing the evening show with a spectacular finale: a visual imagery of the mushroom cloud from the atomic explosions created with a greyish fluid drape, falling over the city of Nagasaki and the inhabitants going about their daily life. Dreams and hopes of innocent civilian lives laid in ashes, decimated and destroyed as Tomitaro fumbles his way back from the bridge, to see the horror left by the plutonium bomb dropped by a pilot from the US Army Air Force.

Forever etched in the history of war, Nagasaki suffered the repercussions of World War II and will always be remembered. Hideki Noda, himself born in Nagasaki, is working to bring more modern Japanese Theatre to the western audience and whether the use of large digital screens showing the English subtitles will suffice to reach an international fanbase is yet to be known.

Review by Melanie Lam

Writer & Director: Hideki Noda

Venue: Sadler’s Wells Theatre