London Production of Murakami’s *Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World*

Murakami’s novel, written more than four decades ago, has gained renewed relevance in an era of AI-driven surveillance. While Japanese works that have broken into mainstream overseas audiences have typically been anime-based adaptations—such as *Death Note* and *Spirited Away*—this production seeks to bring a literary classic to a non-Japanese-speaking audience through visual storytelling. Producer Miyako Kanamori of HoriPro notes that Japanese cultural curiosity in the UK has expanded dramatically over the past five years, with major museum exhibitions on manga, ukiyo-e, and samurai paving the way for theatrical ventures.

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• Tatsuya Fujiwara – 44-year-old film star, playing Watashi, a cyborg data processor in the cyber-punk strand.

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• Philippe Decouflé – French director known for music videos and the 1992 Winter Olympics opening ceremony, overseeing a highly visual adaptation.

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• Ako Takahashi – Japanese scriptwriter collaborating with Decouflé to translate the novel’s complex text.

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• Kiita Komagine and Ryunosuke Shimamura – alternating as Boku, the second protagonist in the fantasy strand.

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Decouflé explained that a purely dialogue-driven approach could not capture Murakami’s spiritual and psychological layers, prompting the use of dance, music, and striking visual design. Kanamori emphasized that the production’s movement-focused language aims to communicate the novel’s themes to audiences unfamiliar with Japanese. Murakami attended rehearsals and expressed satisfaction with the performers’ dedication, noting the high quality of the dancers now available in Japan.

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• “When performing in Japan, you become accustomed to your own audience,” — Fujiwara. Photograph

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• “At first I thought it was impossible to do anything with [the material],” — Philippe Decouflé

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• “He was always very contained, very still,” — Philippe Decouflé

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• “It would be amazing if theatre in Japan could one day command the kind of broad cultural engagement it has in the UK, where it’s truly part of public life,” — Tatsuya Fujiwara

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