NARAN JA
The Playground Theatre
★★★★
“a surreal, spirited, and philosophically rich work”
The moment you step into the theatre, Naran Ja announces itself as something deliciously strange. The stage resembles an experimental lab crossed with an unfinished puzzle — objects scattered like clues; a stillness so charged it feels as though the room is holding its breath for the steam machine to erupt. It’s surreal, playful, and quietly absurd — no wonder it’s one of the Voila Festival’s official picks.
The show unfolds through three intersecting storylines, drifting across time and geography. Dialogue is replaced by physical storytelling, puppetry, and live performance, building a dreamlike universe where everyday objects feel tender, haunted, and vividly alive. We see a birdhouse with a fragile egg; a polar bear with a Polaroid; a tripod sprouting a tree; a plastic toy van blooming with a plant. The props almost rhyme with one another, forming a visual poetry that lingers long after the scenes have shifted.
The trio of performers is sharply contrasted, each embodying a symbolic figure. Ludovica Tagariello appears first as the Firefighter, wrapped in heavy military gear — a costume that carries both duty and death. She is followed by Santi Guillamón, director and performer, who embodies a figure echoing Poland’s absurdist protest movement against Soviet rule — a cultural tremor that prefigured the fall of the Berlin Wall. He becomes our guide to the show’s political undercurrents. Finally, Sophie Stockwell delights as the Polar Bear, the comic pulse of the piece. Inspired by Germany’s iconic tourism mascots, her character roams the world taking selfies — a whimsical yet unexpectedly poignant observer of humanity.
Television static floods the stage with fragments of modern discourse — women’s rights, nationalism, ideology, identity. But eventually, all these human concerns fade into the sound of birds. Humanity’s grand narratives shrink into something small and paradoxical when placed against the eternity of nature. One of the most striking moments is when the Polar Bear steps off the stage and sits among the audience, watching the projected images of human history. In that instant, you can’t help but wonder: who is truly watching whom? And who, after all, is the real protagonist of history? Unlike Beckett’s human-centric absurdity, Naran Ja proposes an object-oriented ontology: humans are not the centre of the universe but merely one component in a vast, indifferent ecology.
This young ensemble builds a richly layered world from props alone — inventive, clever, and intricately interconnected. Childhood toys re-emerge as philosophical anchors: a plastic drill, a toy car, a fan breathing air across a potted plant. The work is not yet fully polished — a touch more technical precision and dramaturgical tightening would elevate it further — but the creative potential is undeniable. The ending lands with quiet brilliance: the spotlight turns toward the audience, leaving us with a simple, unsettling question. Now it’s your turn. What have we changed? What have we left behind? And in the absurd cycle of being human, what remains?
Overall, Naran Ja is a surreal, spirited, and philosophically rich work — one that suggests even greater wonders lie ahead.
NARAN JA
The Playground Theatre
Reviewed on 13th November 2025
by Portia Yuran Li
Previously reviewed at this venue:
SCENES FROM THE CLIMATE ERA | ★★★½ | October 2025
ARTEFACT | ★★★★ | September 2023
SOMETHING UNSPOKEN | ★★★★ | September 2023
PICASSO | ★★★ | January 2023
REHAB THE MUSICAL | ★★★★★ | September 2022
