Standing alone, high up on the balcony of the Musicasa theater in Tokyo, the character of Jane — a wife, mother and a victim of domestic abuse — leaves a red analog phone with a coiled cable hanging over the balustrade.
"That's a bit of poetic license," says British artist and director Tania Coke, who is playing the role of Jane in the upcoming production of a play titled "Disturbance." "She tried to contact the outside world for help, but help didn't come. The phone is just dangling, unanswered."
This is the moment that Jane, who has remained silent for the duration of the play, speaks for the first time. She offers a melancholic metaphor about how her identity is reflected in the pale pebbles that line the driveway below. They too have been walked upon, trampled over and torn away from their natural environment by measures beyond their control.
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