An immersive experience

Discoveries made through the R&D went on to shape the development of the opera and the feedback received influenced the resulting shape of the performances. It became clear that the way the audience enter the house, and therefore the performance, is of great importance. This led to the decision to arrange a separate space for the audience to gather pre-performance before staff lead them across to the venue.

On arriving at the venue, the audience saw the wife character about to open the front door. Before entering the house she gave a short monologue, as if to herself, which served as a hint-giving introduction for the audience. The audience were then encouraged by the staff to follow the wife as she went inside the house. The double bass played an introductory theme on repeat as the wife and audience entered the house, allowing the audience to smoothly enter the immersive performance. Feedback post-performance showed that having a character lead the audience into the house was highly effective; audience members commented that it really set the scene and drew them into the private world of THE鍵KEY.

Audience feedback

Fantastic! Beautiful! Amazing!

Good use of sound effects such as the heart beat and breathing sounds. It was also good how wherever you were, the sound from other  places would leak through

I enjoyed being completely immersed in the performance

Performers

The Husband Trio
The Husband: Takashi Matsudaira (baritone)
Shakuhachi (Japanese bamboo flute): Jin Rei
Double bass: Yukiko Siina
The Wife Trio
The Wife: Akane Kudo (soprano)
Sho (Japanese mouth organ): Atsumi Kojima
Cello: Yuri Kubota
The Daughter Trio
The Daughter: Yu Igarashi  (mezzo-soprano)
Kotsutsumi and shimedaiko (Japanese percussion): Mikako Ogawa
Violin: Kyouju Hayakawa
Kimura trio
Kimura: Rikki Metsugi (dancer)
Biwa (Japanese lute): Kumiko Shuto 
Clarinet: Hiroko Miyake 

Team

Composer and director: Francesca Le Lohé
Producer: Naoya Yamashita
Choreography and dramaturg: Alexandra Rutter (Whole Hog Theatre)
Choreography: Kae Ishimoto
Japanese libretto check: Kazui Yabe
Flyer design: Sonia Friel
Venue director and photography: Takeshi Yoshida
Videography: Shun Onozawa
Photography: Kohei Usuda

Special thanks:

Headline Sponsor of the THE鍵KEY Tokyo Premiere
Gavin Osborn
Patron of THE鍵KEY
Anonymous
Associates of THE鍵KEY
NPO Kokoro Talk Music Representative Director Miyuki Nakai
Junko Kono

Friends of THE鍵KEY

Sawako Tamaru
Mark Choi
Anonymous
Pira Pewnim
Curtis B. Edmundson

Cooperation