Having survived a six-month hiatus due to financial difficulty, the
Ping-Fong Acting Troupe (屏風表演班), one of Taiwan's largest and oldest
modern theater troupes has resurrected itself, drawing a strong box office
response with their revival of The Classified(徵婚啟事).
The Mandarin comedy was originally scheduled for 13 performances, starting
today in Taipei. The response has been so good that Taipei tickets for the
original performances are already sold out and are 90 percent sold out in
other cities. Three extra shows in Taipei and one more in Taichung were
announced yesterday. The shows for which tickets are still available are
April 30, May 1 and May 2 in Taipei, April 26 and 27 in Kaohsiung and May 4
and 5 in Taichung. Tickets for the additional shows are selling fast.
The Classified tells the story of a young, single woman, who, out of
curiosity, decides to post an ad in the personals to seek a husband. She
"auditions" 20 men from entirely different age groups, social groups, that
have different characters and their own reasons for wanting to marry.
The play is loosely based on a novel, The Personals, by Chen Yu-hui
(陳玉慧)which was made into a film of the same name starring Rene Liu
(劉若英)and Wubai(伍佰). In Ping-Fong's interpretation, the story has been
spiced up, with more comic episodes and elements of tragi-comedy, a style
that Ping-Fong is particularly known for.
The play has been set in a troupe rehearsing a play called The Classified
and during the rehearsal, a string of absurd, unexpected affairs happened
between the actors. Hugh Lee(李國修), founder and front man of Ping-Fong,
will play the 20 roles of the men auditioned, the kind of virtuoso
performance which made him famous. Tickets are available through Acer
Ticketing, or ring Ping-Fong at tel (02)2938-2005
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