OzAsia | The Dark Master

When an ordinary hiker stumbles into a dark and timeworn restaurant in Osaka, he is surprisingly asked to take over the venue by the misanthropic chef, despite having no prior cooking experience.

The young man receives a cordless earphone and whispered instructions on how to make everything from the menu. From that moment on, the strange chef vanishes from sight; yet he sees everything, without being seen.

Delicious smells fill the theatre as the young man is instructed to cook for a host of endearing and colourful characters that enter the restaurant and lead us down paths which are both sensual and disturbing, burlesque and demonic. All the while, the audience listens in on the chef’s commands using headphones of their own.

Similar to Kuro Tanino’s previous hit, The Dark Inn, presented at OzAsia Festival in 2017, The Dark Master is a captivating, slightly twisted piece of theatre with a stunning set design that stimulates both the senses and the mind.

IMAGE | Takashi Horikawa