This upsetting play is apparently based on truth. It tells the story of two sisters Hanako and Reiko whose quarrels as teenagers leads to the fateful night that Hanako storms out to go to the beach, never to be seen again. It turns out she has been abducted by North Koreans who use her to teach one of their nationals to be be Japanese so that she can operate as a spy. Hanako in turn is forced to become Korean and eventually has a daughter by a man she is paired with. Meanwhile, back in Japan, the family lead a relentless campaign to get the Japanese Government to acknowledge the abductions. Pushing particularly hard is the boy (Tetsuo) who used to visit the sisters and who provoked Hanako's fateful trip to the beach on the night of the abduction. Both he and Reiko - who had spoken harsh words that night - are consumed by an unremitting guilt.
Several years later, the Korean spy is arrested and confesses to having been taught by Hanako. At last her existence is confirmed. Now, and eventually, the governments act and the Koreans allow the return of those Japanese who wish to make the journey. The family are rewarded by the arrival of Hanako's daughter but not Hanako herself. She has been embroiled in recriminations over some doodlings by her daughter who has been denounced by her schoolmates. The grand-daughter is some comfort for Etsuko - Hanako's by now dying mother but we are left feeling her pain and filling in the gaps of the decision-taking that Hanako has gone through.
It is an absorbing and fast-paced evening that makes full use of the revolving stage with the Japanese and Korean locations appearing and disappearing with immediacy. I found it an upsetting and thought-provoking experience - particularly at the level of how stupid actions (the rows and dares of the abduction evening) can have horrific consequences. Sometimes the lines and delivery felt a bit clunky but that really did not matter to the overall impact of the evening.
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