Haruki Murakami’s Sputnik Sweetheart is currently showing at the Arcola Theatre in London. Adapted by Bryony Lavery and Directed by Melly Still, the play is set in 1999 in the pre-smartphone era. Mobile phones were around but people still used phone boxes and landlines.
Sputnik Sweetheart is a hopeless story of a love triangle that results in loneliness, unrequited love and unrealised ambition.
The male narrator and protagonist of the play is known only as K. K (played by Naruto Komatsu) is a 25 year old elementary school teacher. He is in love with aspiring writer Sumire (played by Millicent Wong), who wears an unattractive oversized coat and boots. She does not requite his love.
To control his libido when he is around Sumire, he tells her he thinks of cucumbers in the fridge. He also has a purely sexual relationship with Mrs Nimura (played by Yuyu), the mother of one of his students.
At a wedding Sumire meets Korean woman Miu (played by Natsumi Kuroda). As they strike up a conversation, Sumire realises for the first time she is sexually drawn to Miu who is 17 years her senior. She agrees to go work for the glamorous and successful woman.
Under the older woman’s influence she starts to dress more feminine. She quits smoking. However she also gets writer’s block.
Bryony Lavery adaptation which is faithful to the novel, includes a subplot that involves the son of Mrs Nimura, when he is caught stealing by security guard (Sadao Ueda). This sub-plot, which takes place near the end of the performance, seems out of place in this production and breaks the flow of the main characters.
Aside from that, the play is beautifully acted and performed. The minimalistic staging which uses a telephone box as its main prop works well in this actor-focused production. The projector of cartoon like drawings that are projected onto the wall accompany the narrative throughout. I recall a particularly humorous line drawing of a cucumber in a fridge to reflect K’s description of controlling his erection getting quite a response of laughter from the audience.
Sputnik Sweetheart by Haruki Murakami is currently showing at the Arcola Theatre in London from October 27, 2023 to November 25, 2023.
