The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle

Synopsis

The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle is a detective story, an account of a disintegrating marriage and a dramatic revelation of long buried Second World War secrets. Toru Okada is an unassuming everyman. His cat has disappeared, a seemingly innocuous event that triggers a series of increasingly bizarre encounters. His wife inexplicably vanishes, leading Toru on a search during which he encounters a strange and compelling cast of characters, each with their own intriguing stories. Crossing the boundary between reality and dreams, these interactions open doors to a hallucinatory world charged with sexuality and violence. As the lines between fantasy and reality dissolve, Toru must confront the dark forces that exist inside him to begin to understand the mystery of his life.

Our Review:

Michael Coveney - 21 August 2011

The mechanical cry of a bird haunts Haruki Murakami’s great novel like the sound of a wound-up spring, following the hero, Toru Okada, on his curious quest for a missing cat, then a missing wife, finally his own identity, in the far reaches of his consciousness, down dry wells and across modern Tokyo.

It’s an impossible kind of fiction to render on the stage – though Proust has been done successfully by both Harold Pinter and the Glasgow Citizens – and this version, quiet, serious, understated, fails on almost every level.

As a spectacle, with video, silhouettes, a spindly wooden puppet visibly manipulated, and a slightly portentous narrative, it is painfully Robert Lepage-lite. As a “taste” of Murakami, it is almost facetiously simple-minded, lacking any sense of density or mystery. And as a story, it must be impenetrable if you don’t know the book.

Stephen Earnhart’s production, flaccidly designed by [Tom...

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Latest User Review

Peter MacR - 26 August 2011:

I don't know the book and yes, the story is impenetrable. Deeply uninvolving and dull....

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