All the water is a stage

All this was encapsulated in the play with a title that is as tantalizing as it is long, Dots and Lines, and the Cube Formed. The Many Different Worlds Inside. And Light, directed by Takahiro Fujita from Japan.

As with Barba's play, this is also inspired by real-life events that Fujita read about in the newspaper, dealing with how individuals and individual events could have rippling repercussions.

Telling the stories of several teenagers in 2011, Dots and Lines, and the Cube Formed was triggered by several news events that took place ten years before, including the gruesome murder of a girl in a small town in Japan, and the September 11 attacks in the United States.

It also tells of the thousands of young people who abandoned their home towns in eastern Japan after the huge earthquake, tsunami and Fukushima nuclear disaster of 2011.

The play was created in 2013, when Fujita and his theater company Mum & Gypsy were invited to perform in Italy. It was the first time that he had created a show that people who didn't speak Japanese could relate to, he said.

He chose to write about leaving one's hometown, a universal theme that resonated with the audience. After the performances, viewers came to him, discussing their similar personal experiences.

Fujita said that recently he had been thinking about how to appeal to a broader public, creating shows that will attract people who do not normally go to the theater.

The Wuzhen experience was new for him and the company. Visitors do not just go to the Wuzhen festival for the theater performances, but also because they can enjoy the sights and the food and drink at the same time.