The play, The Living Koheiji, written in 1924 by the young playwright Senzaburo Suzuki, who died only two years later at the age of 32, is still often staged today. It is a dark psychological "ghost" story with a cast of only three characters--two men and a woman. Koheiji and Takuro are a young barnstorming actor and his musical accompanist whose hopes are undaunted by their lowly position in the ranks of stage entertainers. Koheiji has nursed a secret love for Takuro's wife Ochika for many years; when he approaches her, he is rebuffed. Determined to talk Takuro into giving her up to him, he is murdered for his trouble. After the murder, Takuro returns to his wife, but they are soon joined by the eponymous friend who does not want to die. This ménage à trois is for life...and beyond. Veteran director Nobuo Nakagawa was noted for several mystery masterpieces made during the postwar years. When he died, he was Japan's senior film director; The Living Koheiji, made in 1982, was his last film.