REVIEW: THINGS BETWEEN HEAVEN AND EARTH by Jun Noh at Etcetera Theatre 15 October 2024

‘A dark thriller, full of surprises, twists and turns, and injected with tinges of playfulness’ ★★★★

You don’t really know what happens behind closed doors. It is not unusual for many people to do their best to hide a side of themselves from others and resort to putting on appearances as a means of coping with life in general and adapting to circumstances in this imperfect world.

The writer-performer Jun Noh derived inspiration for the setting of his play “Things between Heaven and Earth” from his personal experience living in the USA and his observation that the evangelical church environment is considered a relatively safe place providing a sense of community to Asian American migrants trying to fit in a foreign land. The inspiration of the plot and the background of some of his characters partially comes from the story of theatre director Steven Daldry, who is married to his wife in spite of being openly gay. It is said that the bible disapproves of homosexual acts, so the exploration of both themes of Christianity and sexual orientation from the perspective of an East Asian lens is thoroughly discussed and debated in this psychological drama.

The protagonist Eric, performed by the multi-talented Jun Noh, is a famous novelist whose third novel is a flop. At a memorial service for his deceased friend Harry, he rediscovers his affection for Harry’s widow May, whom he once dated and courted. Eric however becomes the subject of intense scrutiny by a curious May who raises pertinent questions about the unsolicited coverage in Eric’s novels of her own marriage to her late husband. The line between fiction and reality gets blurred and murkier as the story unfolds.



Marina Hata’s portrayal of May commands the stage through her charm, cheekiness and magnetic personality. ‘Though she be but little, she is fierce.’ came up to mind as we follow the female character’s journey as a devout Christian turning into a psycho maniac, with an unhealthy attraction to men with complex sexual issues over whom she has a tendency for exercising control. Unfortunately for Eric, he falls for her trap. After an incident of drink spiking, highlighted by a fantastically staged and choreographed fall onto the floor, Eric wakes up in the basement and discovers that another man is also held captive there: Darren, the latest romantic conquest of May and also a previous flatmate of Eric. In order to negotiate his release, Eric convinces May into accepting the role of co-writer for his next novel.

As a dark thriller, the play is full of surprises and twists and turns injected with tinges of playfulness. Various styles are used, with the lead character Eric as narrator, breaking the fourth wall through the medium of interview and stories flashback of the encounter between him and May. There are occasional moments of inactivity when nobody is on stage and although pauses serve their purposes, these moments appear prolonged unnecessarily. The expository interview scene at the beginning of the play, deemed necessary to provide enough backstory and eliminate ambiguity, would also benefit from being cut back.

This Kobold Blue Productions had several festival runs already at the Camden Fringe, Edinburgh Fringe, Lambeth Fringe, and was finally performed by the two actors at the Camden Horror Fest with a new creative team including Jun Noh himself as director and Belle Bao as assistant director also taking on the role of sound tech designer, while the lighting designer was Santi Wang.

Review by Melanie Lam

Writer and Director: Jun Noh

Assistant Director: Belle Bao

Venue: Etcetera Theatre