‘Wozzeck’ at NTT A Worthy New Production for Opera’s Centenary, with Stellar Performances, Sets, Costumes, More

By Yukiko Kishinami / Japan News Staff Writer

16:30 JST, December 7, 2025

The recent production of “Wozzeck” at the New National Theatre, Tokyo (NNTT) was a powerful event, worthy to mark the centenary of the Alban Berg opera that first premiered in 1925.

NNTT artistic director Kazushi Ono conducted all five performances of the production, which opened on Nov. 15 as a highlight of the theater’s 2025-2026 season.

The three-act opera was performed without any intermissions, stretching over 100-plus minutes. I attended the first performance and found it full of intensity, with dark emotional depth. The atonal music was filled with expressive, at times even lyrical power to move the listeners’ hearts.

“Wozzeck” is an adaptation of an unfinished play by early 19th-century German playwright Georg Buchner that was based on the psychiatric evaluation of a man who killed his lover. Berg attended the play’s Viennese premiere in 1914 and decided to write an operatic version.

The opera’s composition was interrupted by World War I, as Berg was drafted into military service, although a mental breakdown during training led him to be assigned clerical duties.

Protagonist Wozzeck is a sedate, insecure soldier exploited by the Captain. He earns a meager secondary income as a subject in a clinical test in which an eccentric doctor orders him to eat only beans. Wozzeck and his common-law wife, Marie, have a young son, but her affair with the Drum Major distresses Wozzeck, and he eventually kills her.

Richard Jones directed the opera, his second NNTT production following Shostakovich’s “Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk” in 2009. The ever-resourceful veteran U.K. director is skilled at updating dramatic situations in operas by using inventive, convincing ideas while also staying faithful to the music.

One good example comes in Act I, Scene I, in which Wozzeck shaves the Captain, who taunts the protagonist. It is usually a two-man scene, but Jones put other soldiers in the same room, all mocking Wozzeck, making it clear that he is a target of everyone’s jeering.

Antony McDonald provided an efficient set and costumes that set the right atmosphere for the opera. It was especially effective how he dressed the Drum Major and his men in sleeveless shirts showing their muscles and put Marie in very ordinary working-class garb.

Lucy Carter’s lighting was particularly impressive in Act III, Scene III, in which the red moon rises and Wozzeck kills Marie. The entire stage and the front part of the ceiling in the auditorium were drenched in bright, ominous red. Movement director Lucy Burge provided simple yet effective choreography, a hallmark of Jones’ productions.

Ono successfully maintained dramatic tension throughout the performance with his conducting. In the pit was the Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra — Ono has had a fruitful working relationship with them for many years as the orchestra’s music director, and their genuine rapport showed in the sounds.

German baritone Thomas Johannes Mayer — a familiar name at the NNTT for his accomplished singing, mainly in Wagner operas — returned as Wozzeck. It was his first role at the theater since 2009 and he superbly expressed the anguish of the character.

Irish soprano Jennifer Davis made her NNTT debut as Marie in this production, impressing the audience with her silvery soprano and engaging singing. Dutch tenor Arnold Bezuyen’s cynical performance was a good match for the pompous Hauptmann (the Captain), and the Drum Major was solidly portrayed by British tenor John Daszak.

Four Japanese singers were part of the main cast. Bass Hidekazu Tsumaya was suitably menacing as the Doctor, and Tasundo Ito’s bright tenor voice was perfect for Wozzeck’s compassionate colleague Andres. Mezzo-soprano Akiko Goke did a good job both singing and dancing as Margret, a friend of Marie, and veteran tenor Hideyuki Aochi made an impact as Der Narr (the Idiot).

The New National Theatre Chorus showed excellent teamwork in singing as well as dancing. Wozzeck and Marie’s son was performed by Yuito Mikoshiba. Children from the Tokyo FM Boys Choir gave the audience chills in the final scene.