‘Murakami saw his book come alive!’: the Japanese company bringing the author’s science fiction masterpiece to the stage
Japanese entertainment company HoriPro is taking a stage adaptation of Haruki Murakami’s Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World on an international tour, with a Barbican run in London this autumn. The production matters because it brings one of Murakami’s most cryptic, dreamlike novels to foreign audiences at a time of growing international interest in Japanese culture and theatre.
Directed by French choreographer Philippe Decouflé, the Japanese-language play stars Tatsuya Fujiwara and combines the novel’s cyberpunk Tokyo storyline with its surreal walled-town fantasy. It premiered in Tokyo in January, toured Japan until March and Singapore in April, before heading to London and then Paris; English surtitles are used outside Japan. The cast said Singapore’s English-speaking audience responded more openly to its humour than Japanese audiences, increasing their confidence for London.
- Murakami’s surreal novel is touring internationally as a Japanese stage production.
- Tatsuya Fujiwara returns to the Barbican nearly 30 years after debuting there.
- The tour reflects growing global interest in Japanese culture.