The Palace of Eternal Youth (長生殿) is one of the most celebrated Kunju opera classics. On Tuesday the largest-scale production in the last 100 years -- the result of a collaboration of Chinese, Taiwanese and Hong Kong talents -- will premiere at Taipei's Novel Hall (新舞臺) before touring the country.
With a fund of over NT$20 million from Taiwan organizer the Chien Huei Cultural and Educational Foundation (建輝社會文教基金會), Suzhou Kunju Opera Institute; Suzhou Opera Museum and Suzhou Kunju Opera Troupe gathered some 200 people to form the Jiangsu Kun Opera "The Palace of Eternal Youth" Troupe (江蘇省崑劇長生殿藝術團) for the show. Oscar-winning Hong Kong designer Yip Kam-tim (葉錦添) was picked to work on costume and stage design.
Most importantly for Kunju fans, director Gu Du-huang (顧篤璜) has selected 28 of the play's 55 episodes, to be performed on three consecutive evenings. As most troupes these days perform only five episodes, the new show is much more comprehensive. Roughly half of the 28 episodes have not been performed in the last 100 years.
The Palace is a love tragedy about Tang emperor Li Long-ji and his mistress Yang Yu-huan. Yang is one of the most sublime beauties from Chinese history. When the emperor first sees her she is his daughter-in-law, but he wrests her from his son. The emperor grows so obsessed with her that he ignores all affairs of state. Seeing the state sliding into mayhem, rebels launch a subversion, driving the emperor and his retinue into escape. During the escape, all palace officials blame Yang for the decline of the empire. Due to their pressure, the emperor reluctantly agrees that Yang should commit suicide.
Ching dynasty Hong Sheng's (洪昇) dramatization of the history dwells on the devastating effects of their romance on the Tang dynasty. Hong ended the play with the emperor, tortured since Yang's death by the thought of her beauty, finally joining her in heaven. It is revealed that the emperor and his concubine were two gods banished from heaven to meet again as mortals.
The three parts of The Palace of Eternal Youth will be performed over three evenings from Feb. 17 to Feb. 19 and again from Feb. 20 to Feb. 22. All performances start at 7:30pm, at the Novel Hall, 3-1, Sungshou Rd, Taipei (
ticketing outlets. As of Wednesday, 30 percent of the tickets were still available, mostly for the NT$1500 to NT$2,500 seats. For more information, call (02) 2341 9898.
The best-known Kunju scholar in Kunju's hometown of Suzhou, 77-year-old Gu has devoted his life to research and perform Kunju for over 50 years. The Cultural Revolution of the 1960s and funding shortages in the 1980s has only fueled his passion for Kunju. Although he was not able to come to Taipei for the premiere, due to heart problems, Gu sounded excited about the performance in a telephone interview.
The charm of The Palace, Gu said, comes from its palatial period setting. "The play tells a familiar story. Its music is beautiful and its verses are of significant literary value. Most importantly, audiences past and present are both drawn to its stage setting and to all the magnificence of the Tang palace."
Gu is one of the few in China who have consistently tried to preserve Kunju traditions and resisted the prevalent trend toard innovated Kunju, which emphasizes stage effects and incorporates foreign elements.
"There have been too many productions of innovated Kunju operas, which target younger audiences. The result is often that older audiences are unhappy with the changes and the young audiences are not really thrilled. The tradition-minded are now winning the day. The younger audiences are becoming more curious about Kunju traditions and the elders have come back into the theater."
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