Convenience Store Woman is a novel about a young Japanese woman finding herself conflicted between living up to the expectations of a very fixed society or following the path to her own happiness - which entails going back to working in her beloved convenience store and avoiding getting married. She is quite the contrast to the many protagonist of Western coming-of-age stories, that almost always finds love and goes on adventures, and her thoughts often highlight the many absurdities in modern life.

The story takes place in a very different culture than my own, as well as a slightly magical realism-parallel world, where the rules of nature get slightly bent at moments - which really lends itself to theatrical interpretation, where you can give shape and life to the way she experiences the world. I find myself both relating to the main character and not fully understanding the way her brain works, and I question if I find the character so intriguing because this is a mirroring or contradiction to my own life? Or maybe because she can be both?

Annika Taylor is third year student directing.