Q&A: Japan’s Hideki Noda on his return to London with Love in Action

Acclaimed Japanese theatre maker Hideki Noda OBE, the writer/director behind 2022’s smash hit Japanese re-telling of Romeo & Juliet set to the music of Queen  A Night At The Kabuki, is back in London with another Japanese take on a literary classic.  Love in Action transports the key events of The Brothers Karamazov – mainly a family love triangle involving a father and his oldest son - to Nagasaki 1945 around the time of the atomic bomb and there’s a new ending. The show is a personal one for its director as he was born in Nagasaki ten years after the end of the war. Ahead of the show’s sold out run at Sadler’s Wells which opens on Thursday, we spoke to Hideki Noda about being back in London and why this show

This is your first time back in London since A Night at the Kabuki, how does it feel to be back?

I have been looking forward to going back to London . I have lots of theatre friends there and I respect London’s theatre and audiences.

How did the show come about, particularly the cast who have never acted together before?

I did quite a number of workshops before the rehearsals with actors and I was immediately inspired. I found the best actor for each character and I believe this cast is the best for this production.  I’m looking forward to everyone in London seeing them at work

Why the Brothers Karamazov?

It's been my favourite novel since when I was young.  The Brothers Karamazov was written in 19th century in Russia. However, it is relevant now. It’s a story about love, hate, jealousy, money, truth, betrayal, family, community, human beings, God and so on. It still looks at modern issues just like Shakespeare’s masterpieces do.

The show is set in 1945 in Nagasaki against the backdrop of the atomic bomb at the end of World War II. We know this is a personal story for you as that’s where you were born and grew-up, how did it feel to tell something so personal?

The fact I was born in Nagasaki is personal story. However, the fact the atomic bomb was dropped in Nagasaki is not personal story but history. I consider it a part of history that people all over the world should know about, though it feels like people are starting to forget what happened there. Though it happened in the past, it’s something that should be in the present and the future, it should never be forgotten

What do you hope the London audiences will take from the show?

I don’t hope anything beforehand, but I would love to ask them after the show what they think!