Adapted by: Frank Galati
( based on the work of Haruki Murakami )
At: Steppenwolf Upstairs Theatre,
1650 N. Halsted
Phone: ( 312 ) 335-1650; $20-$60
Runs through: Feb. 19
BY RICK REED
If you're familiar with Japanese writer Haruki Murakami's work, you know that his prose is some of the finest in contemporary literature: it's character-centered, haunting, precise, magical, captivating, and dense. Murakami holds a place as the leading contemporary Japanese writer of fiction, and deservedly so. His work is rich and stirring, but always accessible. If you're not familiar with his work, Steppenwolf will take your hand and give you a fine introduction with its world premiere adaptation, after the quake, Frank Galati has adapted two of the short stories in Murakami's collection, after the quake with care and a telling respect for the source material. It's not always an easy task to adapt work written for the page and make it play on the stage. They're separate mediums with different demands. The most outstanding achievement here is Galati's adaptation: his fluid intertwining of two short stories into a cohesive whole manages to retain Murakami's lyricism and empathetic characterization while bringing it to mesmerizing life for the stage.
The stories Galati chose, 'super-frog saves tokyo,' and 'honey-pie' were both inspired by the earthquake that leveled Kobe in 1995. The stories, in different ways, echo and amplify the fear of devastation and helplessness aroused by natural disaster, while at the same time use an earthquake as a metaphor for seismic shifts taking place on a more personal level. 'super-frog saves tokyo' is a darkly comic, super-hero style story, with a downtrodden loan collector being suddenly empowered by a charming and mysterious life-size frog. Together, the frog promises, the two of them can rescue Tokyo from an impending earthquake caused by an underground worm whose rages are expressed through above ground devastation. The other story is one that connects deeply with Murakami's other fiction, in particular, his novel Norwegian Wood in that it depicts a love triangle, at the center of which is an introspective writer filled with unrequited love for a woman whom his best friend has wooed. Here, the triangle finds its focus through the little daughter of the married couple, who is haunted by nightmares in the immediate aftermath of the Kobe earthquake. The quake causes their world to evolve and shift in a multitude of ways.
After the Quake receives a solid production here, given a lovely aural background by Andre Pluess and Ben Sussman's sound design ( which boasts live cello and koto, played by Jason McDermott and Jeff Wichmann ) , a utilitarian and striking set from James Schuette, and evocative lighting from James F. Ingalls. Galati has a formidable cast to bring Murakami's characters to life, including Keong Sim, Hanson Tse, Kayla Lauren Mei Mi Tucker, Tiffany Fujiwara, Aiko Nakasone, and Andrew Pang.