Opus

  • 2013/2014 Season
  • [Japan Premiere]
    Performed in Japanese
  • THE PIT

September, 2013

  To open the 2013/2014 season, we present Opus. The play is being directed by Ogawa Eriko, a budding director who is rapidly making a name for herself in the theatre world today. This will be the first installment of a series developed by Artistic Director Miyata Keiko. Ms. Miyata has said that she wanted to see how directors in their 30s view the world, and to watch their work as one of the audience.
  Opus, which premiered in the US in 2006, centers around four male members of a string quartet. It is a brilliant work that offers a humorous portrayal of human desires, ambition, suspicion, jealousy and betrayal.
  Ogawa Eriko brings her keen eye to directing the production, which features a new translation by Hirakawa Daisaku. Hirakawa earlier produced a critically praised translation for the NNTT production of Copenhagen. The role of Elliot, quartet leader, will be played by Danda Yasunori, who is coming off a fine performance in our recent production of The Hothouse.
  After its Tokyo run, the play is scheduled to be performed at Art Tower Mito.

SYNOPSIS

  The Lazara Quartet holds emergency auditions for a violist in the run-up to a recital at the White House. The player chosen is a young woman named Grace. Dorian, the original member, was fired for being difficult to work with; now, no one has seen him for weeks.
  The quartet has chosen a difficult piece for the White House recital: Beethoven's Opus 131. But the piece is new to Grace, and so the quartet must rehearse all it can in the limited time it has.
  The four members of the quartet—Grace, Elliot, Alan and Carl—continue to work on Opus 131. Elliot keeps missing notes. When his mistakes are pointed out by the other three, Elliot simply won't admit to them. The White House recital is just around the corner. The mood in rehearsals is becoming strained.
  Somehow, the quartet gets through the recital okay and they return to the dressing room. Dorian then appears unexpectedly. He tries to persuade the quartet to fire Elliot; Dorian will come back to the group as first violin, then Dorian, Alan, Carl and newest member Grace will form a new Lazara Quartet.
  Defeated and angry, Elliot is about to make a dramatic exit. But before he can, Dorian demands that Elliot return the Lazara violin, an expensive instrument from which the quartet takes its name. Elliot argues that it belongs to him; Dorian insists that instruments used by the quartet are the property of the quartet. Soon Alan and Carl are dragged into the argument.

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