Once Upon A Midnight - Intercultural Significance

Intercultural Significance

Director Catherine Fitzgerald claimed in Rip It Up magazine that Once Upon a Midnight has a metaphorical base

"It works on many levels. Is it about a young kid with fear who gets kidnapped by monsters? Or is it something else? Is it about the war on terror? There are a lot of things layered into the story."

The show was written in equal parts English and Japanese, with Australian playwright Alex Vickery-Howe working closely with Japanese translator Ken Yamamura. The combination of languages posed interesting challenges. Quoted in Lowdown Magazine, Yamamura said

"... the sense of humour is completely different and also the words we use for the humour . So I translated literally with description and still didn't find it funny so I had to come up with something equivalent to that joke to find the Japanese understanding."

Vickery-Howe added

"Sarcasm is lost. I offended a lot of people just being myself... it's that Australian thing of saying 'I hate you' but really meaning 'I like you' which is taken literally."

Journalist Ursula Beaumont goes on to note that

"Targeting teenage audiences with an experience that introduces 'the other' in a fun, positive, familiar way with the monsters crossing the cultural divide, is a refreshing approach to gaining understanding of another culture. What's more, it's a young bi-cultural cast strutting their stuff, making the production a unique work..."

Speaking to the Helpmann Academy's Arts Magazine actor Matthew Crook reflected on the experience of working interculturally

"Performing Once Upon a Midnight in Japan has been an overwhelming experience and certainly unforgettable. No matter how much or how little we spoke each other's language, I found there was always an indescribable connection."