The cast of Gekidan?Shinkansen's "Dokurojo no Shichinin" came together on June 23rd for a press conference.

"Dokurojo no Shichinin" was first performed in 1990, and has been performed every seven years ever since. This will be the fourth time that the play will be performed to a wide audience by Gekidan?Shinkansen. The cast features veterans Furuta Arata (45) and Inoue Jun (47), as well as fresh faces Oguri Shun (28), Moriyama Mirai (26), and Katsuji Ryo (24).�This is Moriyama's first time playing the lead role.

Oguri commented on Moriyama, "Sometimes when we drink and I listen to him talk, I get that he's very stoic. I have a feeling that once we start practices and rehearsal I'll get scolded a lot by him. That's my biggest worry right now," in a joking manner. In reply to that, Moriyama commented, "Not at all! I believe that communication is important in acting, so I hope to communicate well with each other," showing his determination.

Oguri, whose selling point has been the ability to play various action packed roles, commented, "I went running with Katsuji yesterday and realized I don't have stamina at all. I was thinking, 'You're still young, get your act together,'" revealing another worry he had. Katsuji also remarked, "We also did abs at the Oguri Dojo, about 300 sit-ups. I couldn't keep up," also revealing how out of shape he is.

"Dokurojo no Shichinin" starts on August 7th in Osaka, and will also make a stop in Tokyo, performing a total of 68 shows.

Source & Photo: Sponichi