Ota’s 水の駅 Mizu no Eki (The Water Station) uses a combination of slow tempo, quietude, and theatre of divestiture to show a fragmented civilization. Travellers enter the space, avail themselves of water from the broken water spigot or investigate the heap of junk and exit. Without words, the audience acts as voyeurs: forced to determine the stories of each of the travellers and see ourselves reflected back. Originally inspired by Ota’s repatriation back to Japan from China as a child following the second World War, Ota and his collaborators created a piece of theatre that is at once awe-inspiring, disgusting, terrifying, and heartbreaking; invoking both a sense of curiosity for how the world works and a looming fear of the unknown.