Hideki Noda & Marihiko Hara on −320°F, Science, Memory and the Future of Humanity
Image Credit: Production shot of ‘−320°F’. Photo by Takashi Okamoto @takashi_okamoto
Some creative partnerships begin with a shared vision. Others begin with a shared curiosity about the mysteries of our biggest question, what is life? For internationally acclaimed playwright, director and actor Hideki Noda OBE, and Kyoto-based composer and sound artist Marihiko Hara, that curiosity lies at the heart of their latest collaboration, −320°F.
Noda’s creative journey began between Nagasaki and Tokyo, shaped by memories of place, history and a lifelong fascination with mythology, science and storytelling. As a teenager, witnessing Peter Brook’s legendary production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream revealed what he calls “theatrical happiness” – a feeling that has fuelled decades of boundary-pushing work. Hara’s path was equally eclectic: growing up in Osaka surrounded by church hymns, Nagauta shamisen, Noh performance traditions and his mother’s beloved Scott Walker records, he developed an ear for the emotional power of sound long before becoming one of Japan’s most distinctive contemporary composers.
We spoke to both artists ahead of the London premiere of −320°F at Sadler’s Wells. Part science-fiction odyssey, part philosophical fable, the production explores biotechnology, genetic memory, mortality and humanity’s desire to improve upon nature itself. At a time when artificial intelligence, reproductive medicine and questions of human enhancement are rapidly moving from speculation into reality, the themes of −320°F feel remarkably timely.
Along the way, we hear about Noda’s enduring relationship with London – from formative days spent absorbing inspiration at the British Museum to the thrill (and terror) of performing for discerning UK audiences. Hara recalls youthful visits filled with Scott Walker CDs, fish and chips, 99 Flakes and a city that continues to spark his imagination.
Dive into the conversation below, then experience their extraordinary world for yourself. −320°F arrives at Sadler’s Wells in Islington from 2–11 July – a theatrical journey through science, memory and imagination unlike anything else you’ll see this year.
Let’s start with Hideki Noda…
Looking back to your childhood and early adulthood in Nagasaki and Tokyo – what were the formative moments that first awakened your imagination and relationship with theatre?
I was born in Nagasaki’s small island and I came up to Tokyo when I was 4 years old.
I must have been surrounded by the sea in Nagasaki but I don’t remember that clearly. Still in my play there appears the scene of the sea very often.
Also, after coming to Tokyo, at school my teacher and friends asked me of Nagasaki where atomic bomb had been dropped. The fact I was born in Nagsaki has influenced me writing about atomic bomb.
In 1999 I wrote about it for the first time, I was in London. I stayed at a hotel next to the British Museum. I decided to see a couple of exhibition rooms of the museum every day. I wanted to take a long time to watch each room in order to get the inspirations from culture all over the world. I tried to collect all the inspirations from all the room’s exhibitions there and started to create the story.
The day I almost finished writing the script, I happened to stand in front of a big Chinese bell. The bell reminded me of a Japanese kabuki’s story, which is “Musume Dojyoji”. At the same time, the shape of the bell reminded me of the atomic bomb which dropped off Nagasaki.
I had been thinking of whether or not I should make use of the inspiration, using a bell as a symbol of atomic bomb at the end of a new script, ”Pandora’s Bell”.
Does my style of a play have a capability to talk about the atomic bomb?
I have been hesitating to finish the script. Then my English theatre friend and one of the best director, Simon McBurney asked me what you were writing recently. I explained to him the story and finally I told him my hesitation of the end.
He said to me “Hideki, you should write about it as you imagined. Because you happened to stop and stay in front of the Chinese Bell. Very few Japanese can be there.
Moreover, nobody except you who were born in Nagasaki imagine the atomic bomb by watching the shape of the bell.
I happened to have been born in Nagasaki ten years after an atomic bomb. When I work for the theatre, my imagination has been still influenced by the fact.
The particular performance I was influenced by was the RSC’s legendary production which is Peter Brook’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream in Tokyo when I was 16 in 1977. I was excited to see the play. On the stage, all the actors looked free and enjoying the show themselves. I found it theatrical happiness then and there.
Image Credit: Production shot of ‘−320°F’. Photo by Takashi Okamoto @takashi_okamoto
Your productions often combine mythology, satire, movement, political ideas and sheer theatrical chaos in ways that feel completely unique. How has your creative language evolved over the decades – and what still excites or challenges you most when making theatre today?
I used to be a law school student in the university. Instead of going there, I read lots of books, including mythology, science, weird novels, poems and so on. My play derives from hundreds of thousands of my young curiosities. In those days I also sneaked in lots of rehearsal rooms of professional companies and stole the method. My cup of tea was physical method in the theatre. Actor’s body give the inspirations directly to my play.
For −320°F, you collaborated with Kyoto-based composer and sound artist Marihiko Hara. What drew you to his sonic world, and how did music help shape the emotional and philosophical atmosphere of this production?
Soon after Marihiko reads my script, he gets hold of it from a bird’s eye point of view. He gives some tunes for one scene. I can select with him just one which is the best fit for the play.
Marihiko’s sonic world comes in quietly in a theatrical way. His sound soaks into our play. It doesn’t insist on “this is music!”, which is not annoyingly persistent. Finally it is next to our play unconsciously.
Image Credit: Production shot of ‘−320°F’. Photo by Takashi Okamoto @takashi_okamoto
−320°F explores science, mortality, biotechnology and humanity’s desire to push beyond natural limits. Why did these themes feel urgent for you to explore right now – and what conversations do you hope audiences leave the theatre having with themselves afterwards?
Every time we believed that science was almighty, we recognised it was wrong. We have been able to control science finally. But now we find nuclear tech and artificial intelligence uncontrollable. I feel another uncontrollable science is reproductive medicine. The inspiration came from my memory of the birth of my niece 44 years ago.
Thinking about her life has reminded me of one Japanese crime which occurred 10 years ago and is connected with eugenics. While I had been writing this script, I supposed that enhancement in reproductive medicine might be related to eugenics which we believe now we’ve already overcome after the second world war.
However actually enhancement is saying what kind of life would be better for having never begun like eugenics.
London has clearly played an important role in your artistic journey over the years. When you return to the city, which three cultural places, neighbourhoods or creative communities do you especially love visiting – or are excited to discover this time around?
I love visiting London especially the creative communities. This time I am proud of performing in front of London’s audience again. UK audiences are see many types of theatre and can judge a good show from a bad one. So, when I play there, I’m nervous and even scared. Performing in London is like Buddhist’s ascetic exercise for me.
Enter Marihiko…
Your music feels deeply atmospheric and emotionally spatial – almost architectural at times. Looking back to your childhood and early creative life in Kyoto, what were the early experiences, sounds or environments that first awakened your relationship with music and listening?
I was raised in Osaka. My family was not particularly musical, but my grandaunt, who lived nearby, used to play Nagauta shamisen and sing. She told me many stories, and we spent a lot of time together because both of my parents worked.
My mother was a huge fan of Scott Walker and often played his records at home.
My grandparents were Christian, and seminarians from Spain and Italy sometimes stayed with them. I often went to church, where I listened to hymns, as well as the sounds of Spanish and Italian being spoken around me.
My junior school and then high school also had classes in Noh chanting and dance, which is quite unusual.
Image Credit: Photograph of composer, Marihiko Hara.
Your work often sits between ambient music, contemporary classical composition, sound art and environmental texture. How do you personally think about the role of sound – not just as music, but as a way of shaping memory, emotion and physical space?
I like making field recordings and incorporating them into my music ̶ not as background sounds, but as part of the voices within the work.
Even if I mute the musical notes themselves, the sequence of field recordings can still exist as a composition.
I carefully edit the volume, placement and movement of environmental and electronic sounds, because I believe sound should never remain completely still. Stillness in sound can become lifeless.
If we listen carefully to a forest or a city, we realise that every sound is already flowing.
Working with Hideki Noda and the world of NODA MAP must be an incredibly dynamic process. How did the collaboration on −320°F evolve creatively – and how did you approach composing for such a visually and philosophically expansive production?
Noda-sanʼs scripts are always very complex. I can never truly understand them simply by reading them, so composing becomes part of the process of understanding his world.
Of course, I write the main theme before rehearsals begin, but most of the music and sound effects are created during the rehearsal period itself. I spend a great deal of time in the rehearsal room.
Sharing time with the director, actors and staff is extremely important and inspiring for me.
There are several different systems running on my computer simultaneously ̶ one for improvising with the actors, another for sound design, and another for score writing.
The whole process is very playful and improvisational.
−320°F moves through themes of genetic memory, time, mortality and scientific ambition. Musically, how did you translate those ideas into sound – and were there particular emotions or sensations you wanted audiences to carry with them during the performance?
The main theme sounds surprisingly pleasant rather than sad ̶ probably the happiest-sounding music I have ever written for NODA MAP.
I never clearly remember the exact moment when a melody arrives, or when I grasp the emotional core of a project, but throughout this production I felt that “sad” music simply would not fit the work.
For the first time, I used the duduk, an Armenian wind instrument. −320°F somehow reminded me of Noahʼs Ark arriving at Mount Ararat in Armenia.
Alongside that, you can hear the Japanese noh flute (nokan), as well as Persian instruments such as the santoor and tonbak.
To me, all sounds and all cultures exist equally ̶ and I believe they should remain that way.
Image Credit: Photograph of composer, Marihiko Hara.
As someone based in Kyoto – arguably the cultural capital of Japan – what are three cultural places, venues or neighbourhoods in London that you particularly love visiting.
Iʼve only visited London twice. Iʼve never even been to Sadlerʼs Wells, although Damien Jaletʼs Vessel – for which I composed the music – was performed there and received a nomination at the Laurence Olivier Awards in 2020 for Best New Dance Production.
Still, London is very special to me. When I was fourteen, I stayed in Sussex for three weeks and visited London many times during that period.
I vividly remember buying all of Scott Walkerʼs CDs for my mother, and the man at the cashier looking genuinely surprised.
Spice Girls, fish and chips, and 99 Flakes are all still vivid memories for me.
Of course I loved the British Museum, and also a Lebanese restaurant whose name I unfortunately canʼt remember anymore.
I think I need to spend more time in London!
Find Hideki Noda at nodamap.com and on Insta at @noda_hideki
Find Marihiko Hara at marihikohara.com and on Insta @marihikohara
See their work →
−320°F
Minus Three Twenty Fahrenheit
Written & Directed by Hideki Noda
Music composed by Marihiko Hara
Sadler’s Wells
Rosebery Avenue,
London, EC1R 4TN
2–11 July 2026
Info and tickets → sadlerswells.com
