One Small Step by Takuya Kato.

Narumi ( Susan Momoko Hingley) and Takashi (Mark Takashi Ota) have been preparing to launch their careers into an unknown destiny to make a new life on the moon. However, they discover that their planned new life will involve far more than they first expected.

Director and writer Takuya Kato story One Small Step has been translated and dramaturged by Andrew and Mika Eglinton for the stage.

Takashi and Narumi’s relationship is shrouded by secrets and proves to be fragile. We learn that Takashi’s Mother has been in contact with him who he has never seen. This part of the storyline doesn’t develop beyond this fact and I would have liked to find out a bit more about what had happened between them as it appears to have shaped his outlook on the current situation.

One Small Step predominantly focuses on the couple circling the same argument in a slightly different context that fails to conclude regardless of the different scenarios they both try to offer to reach a solution/compromise for the situation.

The stark white revolving staging dominates the staged area and the cast revolve around each other as they discuss the situation round and around. Continuously filming the pair and projecting onto two screens above the circle allows the audience to watch closely as the emotions flare and their future perhaps begins to take shape!

The seventy minute play would benefit from editing. There are many of the couple’s conversations that are repeated and unresolved. Considering their dilemma these often fail to deliver the emotions a situation like this would have inevitably evoked. Tightening up these scenes would have made the storyline more powerful and thought-provoking. Unfortunately, it often fell flat and lacked the energy it deserved. These are meant to be massive life-changing decisions.