It’s the final few days of rehearsals before our first preview of Sputnik Sweetheart at Arcola Theatre! Adapted by Bryony Lavery (The Lovely Bones, Frozen) and directed by her frequent collaborator Melly Still (The Lovely Bones, My Brilliant Friend), Haruki Murakami’s novel is brought to life in this dazzling 80-minute play, led by a 5-strong ensemble of fantastic actors.
L-R: Sadao Ueda, Melly Still, Yuyu Rau, Natsumi Kuroda, Naruto Komatsu, and Millicent Wong. Image credit Alex Brenner
"The play is a dive into the experience of being lonely and how its more active cousin ‘yearning’ occupies the same space as creativity, love, sexual desire and dreaming. But nothing seems to come without sacrifice.”
We are currently running a competition over on our Instagram (@arcolatheatre) to win 2 x tickets to the production, as well as 2 x copies of Murakami’s novel, kindly provided by his publisher Penguin Vintage Books. You have until Thursday 2 November to enter the draw.
Our favourite Murakami quote?
‘This love is about to carry me off somewhere. The current's too overpowering; I don't have any choice.’