Even to read the basic premise of Our Cosmic Dust is to successfully capture the imagination: Acclaimed Japanese playwright Michinari Ozawa uses haunting puppetry to chart a young boy’s cosmic journey through grief, as he grapples with the death of his astronomer father.
Explodes to life with the earnestness of a kid intent on solving the mystery of life
If that summary alone is enough to compel you to book a ticket, your instinct is a good one.
Authentically sweet and unexpectedly moving, Our Cosmic Dust explodes to life with the playful earnestness of a kid intent on solving the mystery of life.
That young boy is Shotaro – voiced and masterfully puppeted by Hiroki Berrecloth. We follow him as he embarks on a search for the soul of his late father, moving from the crematorium to the planetarium, pursued by his frantic mother Usami, played by a sympathetic Millie Hikasa.
Along the way, we meet a series of humourful and well-crafted characters who retell their run-ins with Shotoro, unhurriedly adding their own poignant – but never clichéd – musings on death.
Living up to its astronomic theme, Our Cosmic Dust uses an immersive LED screen as a backdrop to manipulate space and time. With flawless execution, the players are whipped between worlds – between memories, sketches and the entire galaxy – uncovering hope and meaning behind the stars. Impressive sound design further sucks us into the portal of Shotoro’s prodigious mind, evoking the same limitlessness of looking up at the night sky.
With this surreal view and the distance created through Shotoro’s puppet, the audience is given the space to explore death from a new cosmic angle, considering how grief lives in the blurred space between past and present – memory and reality. Sometimes, when all we have left of a person is what we remember about them, then holding on – to a silver tooth or a fading star – can also be a part of letting go.
Despite premiering two years ago in Tokyo, Our Cosmic Dust still feels fresh and undiscovered. I encourage everyone to go see it while they have the small window of opportunity!
Our Cosmic Dust runs until 5 July 2025 at the Park Theatre, Finsbury Park.