★★★

“Melly Still’s direction is artful, feeling at times more like dance”

Sputnik Sweetheart is a mournful and thoughtful production which explores philosophical questions of identity, desire and purpose.

In Tokyo in 1999 Sumire (Millicent Wong), a young precocious writer, rings her best friend, K (Naruto Komatsu), from a phone box every night, she doesn’t sleep. Their friendship, coloured by his desire for her, sees them questioning the meaning and purpose of their lives. When Sumire falls for an older woman, she moulds herself into a completely new person, and the play questions how far she will go to pursue this newfound love. Told through K’s eyes the production plays with narrative voice, and the way his emotions cloud his perceptions.

There are real gems in Bryony Lavery’s adaptation of Haruki Murakami’s novel. Melly Still’s direction is artful, feeling at times more like dance. The stage is surrounded by three screens, onto which line drawing animation is projected, like a graphic novel, beautifully designed by video designer Sonoko Obuchi. This use of multimedia works well, often serving to lighten the more serious live performance. A motif of a cucumber representing an erection flashes up repeatedly, eliciting a solid and regular laugh from the audience. The merging of the forms is one of the most effective parts of this production, it feels fresh and bold, and creates layers within the performance, which allow the surrealism of the plot to flourish.

“This is an ambitious play, and parts do shine”

Lavery’s writing is stylised and lyrical. It is very beautiful, but feels more like the prose it is adapted from. The dialogue is stilted and never quite comes to life. However, part of this may be in the performance, as Natsumi Kuroda, who plays Sumire’s love interest Miu, shines as she brings the words to life. Kuroda is hilarious, and at times a little sinister, Miu’s imposing vision of how Sumire’s life should look feels deeply controlling. However, the most powerful moment in the piece is her monologue, performed from atop a revolving cube, and this is where Kuroda’s talent truly takes flight. The play is watched over by the mostly silent figure of Yuyu Rau, who sits sketching as the plot takes place. While this does play with narrative voices, and the concept of the viewer, it does not quite work.

Shizuka Hariu’s design is minimalist, but evocative. A cube, with one wall as a two-way mirror, acts as phone box, Ferris wheel, and portal into another realm. Phone cords wrap around the characters as their romantic entanglements complicate. Malcolm Rippeth’s lighting design also assists in the boundary-less nature of this production.

This is an ambitious play, and parts do shine, but there is a confused strain to it, which prevents it from ever really taking off. It also veers quite suddenly into the surreal, changing the rules, in a way which is part whimsically charming and part convoluted.

BOY PARTS at Soho Theatre

★★★★

“it’s wittier and more playful, equal parts cheerful and chilling.”

This sizzling one woman show adapted from Eliza Clark’s acclaimed novel is provocative and powerful and deeply sinister.

The play follows Irina (Aimée Kelly), a Newcastle based fetish photographer who is exploring the subversion of the male gaze in her work. After a London gallery requests something more hardcore, her work becomes increasingly violent. She begins blurring lines of consent, and increasingly of reality.

We are immersed into the story from the off. The audience are greeted with business cards, the curtain has projections of gallery description labels, we have been invited to an exhibition opening. Peter Butler’s set design sees the stage left bare, except for one stool and one thin gauze screen. And one performer. Sara Joyce’s simple and intimate direction works strikingly well throughout, a particular moment stands out where Kelly sits down on the edge of the stage, swinging her legs into the stalls, and addressing the audience directly and frankly.

Gillian Greer’s adaptation is direct and sparse. The story has been streamlined, and simplified, which works well. It does lose some of the claustrophobic skin crawling horror of the novel. Instead, it’s wittier and more playful, equal parts cheerful and chilling.

Joyce’s direction sees a mix of live performance with video elements designed by Hayley Egan. This allows Joyce to play with time and space, but also employs effects to startle and discomfort the audience.

“This is the kind of urgent, provocative theatre that Soho Theatre does best”

Kelly’s performance is compelling and intense. She multi-roles, throwing herself into every character with passion and focus. She is also heavily pregnant, something which is rare to see on stage, but is an important step in the fight for pregnant actors’ rights. It is a physical performance, and one which explores the body and sex, and it’s fascinating how quickly we forget her pregnancy, and focus on the performance. It is a really impressive feat.

The sound (Tom Foskett-Barnes) and lighting (Christopher Nairne) designs are contemporary and raw. Playing into the exploration of photography and visual mediums there is multimedia – projections of long exposure photography, layered film, letters, flashing images, words and text messages. Flickering lights, pulsing beats, prolonged projections of brightly coloured screens – all of these combine to build audience discomfort, along with the startling subject matter.

Parts of the play feels a little literal, a bit on the nose. Everything does tie up but some moments are a bit disjointed, maybe a little rushed. While the messaging of the play is perhaps too spelled out, the ideas are fascinating. How far must Irina go to be taken seriously as a threat?

This is the kind of urgent, provocative theatre that Soho Theatre does best. The adaptation feels as fresh and almost as shocking as the novel, while also being funny.

SPUTNIK SWEETHEART at the Arcola Theatre

★★★

“Melly Still’s direction is artful, feeling at times more like dance”

“This is an ambitious play, and parts do shine”

SPUTNIK SWEETHEART at the Arcola Theatre

Reviewed on 30th October 2023

by Auriol Reddaway

Photography by Alex Brenner

Previously reviewed at this venue:

Sputnik Sweetheart

Sputnik Sweetheart

BOY PARTS at Soho Theatre

★★★★

“it’s wittier and more playful, equal parts cheerful and chilling.”

“This is the kind of urgent, provocative theatre that Soho Theatre does best”