Maki Morita’s 月を見る夜 Moongazing is given a finely attuned production by Antipodes Theatre Company, is a work that manages to unpack vast questions of modern existence within a taut 70-minute running time.
Directed with an assured, sensitive hand by Ari Angkasa, the production trusts stillness as much as momentum. The dramaturgy by Roshelle Yee Pui Fong ensures the work’s philosophical enquiries remain grounded in lived experience. The result is a production that feels both expansive and intimate.
Drawing on the expanse of the internet to the unknowable fate of the stars, Moongazing examines the systems we increasingly turn to for practical, emotional and even spiritual guidance, asking what is lost when those systems displace embodied human connection.
At its centre is a chance encounter between two women of the Japanese diaspora: Tsukiko, played with searching vulnerability by Anna Fujihara, and Chie, rendered with warmth and quiet gravitas by Yumi Umiumare. Tentative and grounded, their unlikely friendship forms the emotional core of this work.
As Tsukiko is drawn to the generosity and calm of Chie, her yearning for meaning only deepens, leaving her suspended between comfort and uncertainty. Their exchanges are spare but resonant, allowing silences to speak as eloquently as dialogue. Umiumare is also mesmerising to watch, whose movement deepens the ritualistic and emotional texture of the piece
Sean Yuen Halley brings deft versatility to multiple roles, embodying the transitory connections that orbit Tsukiko’s inner life. His performance subtly underscores the play’s preoccupation with distance, whether that be emotional, digital and cosmic.
Moongazing thoughtfully probes the alienation produced by modern life, examining how contemporary systems repackage closeness and erode genuine connection. Blending influences from Noh performance, Japanese folklore, and virtual spaces, the work unfolds as a reflective exploration of legacy and loss – attuned to the subdued sorrow that accompanies the fading of familial bonds and cultural continuity within an ever more fragmented society.
Intriguing and tender, Moongazing is a work that doesn’t offer easy answers to the questions it asks. Instead it invites audiences to sit with uncertainty and to consider what it means to seek connection in an age defined by distance.
月を見る夜 Moongazing
La Mama HQ, 205 Faraday Street, Carlton
Performance: Thursday 5 February 2026
Season continues to 22 February 2026
Information and Bookings: www.lamama.com.au
Images: Anna Fujihara – photo by Darren Gill | Yumi Umiumare – photo by Darren Gill | Anna Fujihara and Sean Yuen Halley – photo by Darren Gill
Review: Rohan Shearn