Based on Haruki Murakami’s short stories “The Shinagawa Monkey” and “Confessions of a Shinagawa Monkey”, the play titled “Confessions of a Shinagawa Monkey” was adapted as a Japan–UK co-production by KAAT Kanagawa Arts Theatre and Vanishing Point, a Glasgow-based Scottish theatre company. It premiered at KAAT in 2024, and was then staged in Scotland in Glasgow and Dundee.
The production is a mix of Japanese and British actors (four from each country), creating a truly unique stage experience that captivates its audiences through a diverse blend of elements: a puppeteer manipulating the tail of the protagonist — a monkey played by an actor — while the dialogue is delivered in a mix of Japanese and English.
Now, Vanishing Point’s original, 2024 award-winning Best Scottish Production play “Love Beyond (Act of Remembrance)”, which is generating buzz not only in its home country but around the world with its ingenious concepts, is coming to KAAT.
(Synopsis)
Harry, who is deaf, begins living in a room at a care home. There, a nurse named May tries her best to support him, but as she keeps talking without understanding sign language, the two constantly fail to communicate. Then gradually, as Harry spends his days in his room, memories of time spent with his late wife, Eliza, resurface time and again: their first date at a restaurant, moments spent by the sea, the love they confirmed through sign language.
However, as Harry’s dementia progresses, his memories begin to fray. As the boundary between past and present gradually blurs, Harry even begins to forget the sign language that May has finally learned. Then, triggered by a certain “name” and an event, the profound loss etched into the couple’s lives begins to take shape …
The role of Harry, the protagonist who has lost his hearing and is suffering from advancing dementia, is played by Ramesh Meyappan, who is himself deaf. The production is directed by Matthew Lenton, the founder and artistic director of Vanishing Point, who also directed “The Confessions of a Shinagawa Monkey”.
Ramesh Mayappan as Harry
In a message to Japanese audiences ahead of this production at KAAT, Lenton states: “This work is packed with my interests. These include the nature of language and communication, and the question of whether spoken words are the only means of communication. Whilst grappling with these ideas, I have used beautiful visual elements to explore and express them.”
Matthew Lenton
True to his word, the production adopts an innovative style that blends British Sign Language (BSL), visual language and spoken English. Furthermore, it will be performed, boldly, without Japanese subtitles.
The artists explain the rationale behind this approach:
“The decision not to use subtitles in this production is an artistic choice designed to create an equal experience for both deaf and hearing audiences.
“It allows the audience to empathise with and connect to the characters as they attempt to communicate without fully understanding one another.
“As each audience member interprets the performance based on their own language and cultural background, a variety of interpretations of the story will emerge”.
For audience members from whichever background, however, “Love Beyond (Act of Remembrance)” is likely to be a new theatrical experience even for those who have seen many, many productions before.
“★★★★ Lenton’s one-hour show combines tremendous depths of emotion with sheer technical brilliance, as Ramesh Meyappan as Harry, Elicia Daly as May, and Amy Kennedy as the memory of Elise, travel deep into Harry’s world of memory and longing; helped by Becky Minto’s astonishing set of mirrored screens which sometimes shiver with loss and uncertainty, superb lighting by Simon Wilkinson, and a searching and beautiful score by David Paul Jones, which leads us straight into the surges of thought and emotion in Harry’s mind, that cannot be expressed in words.”
— The Scotsman
“★★★★ Passionate, powerful, and poignant..”
— Edinburgh Guide
“★★★★ A deftly constructed, deeply touching piece of theatre.”
— The Stage
“★★★★ The staging is a piece of creative genius, particularly involving the direction of Matthew Lenton, and the work of the design team. Becky Minto’s set uses three large wheeled panels behind the main action, lit by Simon Wilkinson.”
— All Edinburgh Theatre
『Love Beyond（Act of Remembrance）』
Venue: KAAT Kanagawa Arts Theatre ＜Large studio＞
Dates: 12 June (Fri) at 19:30–
13 June (Sat) at 13:00- and 18:00- *There is a post-performance talk with Mayappan and Keishi Nagatsuka, the artistic director of KAAT
14 June (Sun) at 14:30-
Venue: Museum of Art, Kochi
June 19 (Fri) at 19:00- and 20 (Sat) at 14:00-
Details: https://www.kaat.jp/d/lovebeyond