Japanese theatre company Noda Map bring − 320° F to Sadler's Wells

In a science-fiction story that asks ‘what is life’ when science and desire for betterment encroaches on God’s creation, − 320° F from NODA MAP (Love in Action, 2024; A Night at the Kabuki, 2022) is spectacle combining drama, music and dance performed by a 25-strong ensemble. The show comes to Sadler’s Wells from 2 - 11 July for the company’s longest run at the venue to date.

At an excavation led by a biotechnology professor, her assistant – who has defied a 15-year life expectancy thanks to modern medicine and wants to repay the favour – searches for the mythical "Angel’s Bone", which their pharmaceutical corporate sponsor thinks it might be the key to youth and longevity. But when their focus turns to the assistant, they that the vibrating bone in his right arm might be the key to tracing the Angel’s Bone, and it opens a door to his genetic memory, taking them back and forth through time, from the modern world, to Middle Ages and an ancient era. −320° is a battle of ideas following the Faustian theme of whether desire for more is a creative or destructive force, and about whether science’s goals to enhance humanity will end up damning it. 

From Japanese company NODA MAP, renowned for their high-quality, large-cast spectacles, −320° is a Faustian descent through myth, memory and other bad ideas. The new show is once again written by, directed by and featuring multi-award-winning Japanese artist Hideki Noda OBE. The show follows his reimagining The Brothers Karamazov in 2024 – resetting the Russian epic against the backdrop of Nagasaki in WWII – and staging Romeo and Juliet with Queen songs. −320° opened Tokyo on 10th April and is coming to Sadler’s Wells in July for the company’s longest run to date. It has further performances in Kitakyushu and Osaka. 

Hideki Noda said, “I feel we are in a world where we’re re-confronted by some things human beings ought to have solved before. We have more of simplistic technologies. I think the Professor represents a kind of dilemma science technology has. Like in the field of medicine, there are things that could be improved to save people, but at the same time, there are also things we shouldn’t touch. To live with the dilemma of science technology is a theme of this play.”

−320° F runs at Sadler’s Wells from 2 - 11 July https://www.sadlerswells.com/whats-on/noda-map-minus-320-fahrenheit/