A story almost too strange for the page has made it to the stage.
From Feb. 16 to 18 at the Tokyo Metropolitan Theatre, the Uzume Theater group, led by German director Peter Goessner, staged an adaptation of Sayaka Murata’s “Earthlings,” a novel about social alienation taken to extreme ends.
While Murata is best known for her contained odd-ball novel “Convenience Store Woman,” “Earthlings” has been more divisive among readers for its gore and outlandish plot twists. Like the original text, the play is a wild ride, running on a narrative logic akin to horror more than the verisimilitude required of literary fiction. The play adaptation is a satisfying one, ultimately succeeding in bringing comedy and poignancy to the story while staying faithful to its zaniness.