Toneelgroep Amsterdam is the Netherland's prime theatre company and the official municipal theatre company of Amsterdam. The award-winning repertory of Toneelgroep Amsterdam includes Shakespeare's plays, Ingmar Bergman's Scenes from a Marriage and John Cassavetes’ Opening Night.

Opening Night portrays a theatre company during the hectic run-up to the opening night of a new play entitled The Second Wife. During the day, the actors rehearse some of the more difficult scenes, and in the evenings they perform previews. Opening Night offers a unique look behind the scenes of a theatre company. But it is more than that. Myrtle Gordon, the company’s leading actress, has a problem. She is finding it hard to identify with the role she is playing; that of a woman past her prime desperately trying to hang on to her youth.

When she witnesses the death of a young fan shortly after giving her an autograph at the first preview, Myrtle starts to confuse real life with theatre. She regularly brings the girl back to life in her imagination: perhaps this way she will master her role in the play. But instead of being a blessing, Nancy gradually becomes a curse. Myrtle finds herself increasingly dependent on the dead girl. Her fellow-actors see her teetering on the brink of insanity. Myrtle can only see one way out: in a surge of her survival instinct she kills the image of her younger self. Just when nobody believes she will perform, Myrtle decides to go on and – together with the rest of the cast – turns the opening night into a huge success.

http://www.toneelgroepamsterdam.nl
http://www.nemzetiszinhaz.hu

Toneelgroep Amsterdam, the national theatre company of the Netherlands performed Opening Night by Cassavetes at the National Theatre of Hungary. The play is the staged version of the film, which is already a bold move, not to mention that we find out only later that we cannot leave our seats for 2,5 hours. The experience was good and enjoyable, so much that even time became faster, unfortunately. The play also addressed the issue of time, then let us go on. (As it was not a conventional performance, the review does not follow the traditional patterns either.)
More