Drawing on 30 years of marriage to five spouses, Ingmar Bergman acknowledged a strong connection to the lead characters of his masterful 1973 film. Johan and Marianne seem the perfect couple. Yet the illusion is soon shattered during this blisteringly perceptive study of a relationship breaking down.

Illuminating Bergman’s world, Ivo van Hove’s theatrical adaptation invites audiences to intimate onstage spaces in which three sets of actors portray Johan and Marianne at different ages. Simultaneous performances converge, bringing their universal battle for love, identity and understanding to a surprising conclusion.

Van Hove’s inventive transfers of cinematic works to the stage, including Antonioni Project, have immersed European audiences.

'As good as theatre gets; combining astonishingly inventive stagecraft with glorious acting’ Guardian on Roman Tragedies at the Barbican (2009)

3 hours 20 mins / including a 25-min interval

The Coast of Utopia is a 2002 trilogy of plays: Voyage , Shipwreck , and Salvage , written by Tom Stoppard with focus on the philosophical debates in pre-revolution Russia between 1833 and 1866. It was the recipient of the 2007 Tony Award for Best Play . The title comes from a chapter in Avrahm Yarmolinsky 's book Road to Revolution: A Century of Russian Radicalism (1959).

The trilogy, nine hours in total, premiered with Voyage on 22 June 2002 at the National Theatre's Olivier auditorium in repertory, directed by Trevor Nunn . The openings of Shipwreck and Salvage followed on 8 July, and 19 July, completing its run on 23 November 2002. In 2006, directed by Jack O'Brien , the plays debuted on Broadway at the Vivian Beaumont Theater at Lincoln Center , New York City , where it closed on May 13, 2007 after a combined total of 124 performances.

The trilogy has also been performed in Russia; it opened at Moscow 's Russian Academic Youth Theatre in October 2007, directed by Alexey Borodin.

The trilogy received its Japanese premiere at Theater Cocoon, Bunkamura in Tokyo on 12 September 2009 and completed its run (including 10 one-day marathon performances) on 4 October 2009. The production was directed by Yukio Ninagawa .