In a land far away a stranger is washed up near an isolated fishing village. Unable to understand his language or why he looks so different, the villagers decide he is a demon and must be destroyed. Only one woman, also an outcast, befriends him. is a universal story told in a masterful performance of physical theatre by Hideki Noda and a cast of extraordinary European actors. Shot through with wit, ingenuity and sly humour, it reveals the conflict between compassion and suspicion in a closed community. This production of , which opened at the Young Vic in January 2003, was Noda's European English language premiere.