Event Information

This work is the third in the series of Japanese composers commissioned by Kazushi Ohno, director of the New National Theatre, Tokyo, following the first, NISHIMURA Akira's “Shion Monogatari” (2019) and the second, FUJIKURA Dai's “Armageddon no Yume” (2020), and will be composed by Toshio Hosokawa. Both Ohno and Hosokawa have also selected TAWADA Yoko to write the script. Writing in Japanese and German, she is one of the world-famous novelists who expresses multiculturalism and diversity. The theme of the new opera, the world premiere of which will be performed by these three artists, is human desire and environmental destruction. It is a work that seriously faces the current times in which we live.

This is YAMASHITA Hiroka's first performance at the New National Theatre, Tokyo. She will play the role of Arato, a young man who meets Natasha, a woman who has escaped from Ukraine, and who wanders “hell” with her. Natasha, who speaks Ukrainian, and Arato, who speaks Japanese, meet, and though they do not understand each other's language, they have a conversation and are invited by a man who claims to be the grandson of Mephistopheles, and they travel to seven hells. The two are led on a journey through seven hells. This is Ms. YAMASHITA's New National Theatre, Tokyo, debut, a new opera, and a multilingual production. As in the past, she will give her all to each and every one of her operas, and I am sure that her wonderful performance will make the audience tremble.