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National Guoguang Opera springs to life

By David Monphard
STAFF REPORTER
Friday, Mar 05, 2004, Page 17

Having just returned from Singapore, Taiwan's National Guoguang Opera Company (國立國光劇團) unveils its spring production, beginning tonight at Novel Hall. But rather than stage a single production as it does each season, Guoguang is treating opera-goers to three separate productions each night, culminating in a tribute to Peking opera legend Mei Lanfang (梅蘭芳) on Sunday.

For those who like action in their opera, this evening's production (嘉興 府) will be a demonstration of wu hsi (武戲), the style of Peking opera that focuses on acrobatics and martial-arts skills and is the livelier form of Peking opera. The other school, wen hsi (文戲) focuses more on singing and highly stylized acting (that is, stock gestures and facial expressions) that would put lovers of wu shi opera to sleep were it not for the occasional clashing of cymbals.

The second part of this evening's performance is a wen hsi performance titled Three Outstanding Sisters (尤三姐) adapted from a script by famous Peking opera writer Wang Hsi-feng (王熙鳳) and directed by Lee Xiao-ping (李小平).

Combined, the two pieces will be a warm up for tomorrow night's production of Red River (滿江紅), a story about the tragic life of Yue Fei (岳飛), the Southern-Song dynasty (南宋) general immortalized for his loyalty to the emperor and the country. While fighting enemies from the north -- the same who had forced the emperor to the southern regions of the country -- members of the cabinet who feared Yue's influence conspired to convince the emperor that Yue had been disloyal to him and betrayed him. Yue was called back to the southern capital where he was jailed and executed.

Some Taiwanese will recall reading Yue's story in their textbooks. The illustrations showed a young Yue on his knees as his mother famously tattooed his back with characters reminding him to always honor his country with integrity and loyalty (精忠報國). The same scene was made into a postage stamp in China last year to commemorate the 900-year anniversary of the birth of the "national hero" -- just a short time after Yue was removed from Taiwanese history books.

The production is something of a premiere for Taiwan. While it was brought to this country a decade ago by the Beijing Opera Company, this is the first production mounted by Taiwan's own national opera troupe.

Finally, Sunday is a tribute to Mei Lanfang, the Peking opera legend who had such an influence on modern opera that a whole of style of acting, the "Mei school" was named after him. Mei's legacy is of more than a hundred female roles he played during his half-century career. This weekend's tribute is in honor of the 110th anniversary of his birth.

To celebrate the occasion, Guoguang is mounting four "mini productions" the same night, scenes from four of Mei's most famous roles. They will include Scattering Flowers (黛玉葬花), Steal the Red String Box (紅線盜盒), Hsi-Shi (西施) and Top of the Universe (宇宙鋒).

"For the four productions, we've chosen the theme of the four seasons," said designer Wang An-chi (王安祈). "Like the seasons, each piece is precious on it's own but is made greater by virtue of the fact that each flows seamlessly into the next. Each has it's own dignity and elegance."

While Sunday may be a special tribute to the "Mei school" of Peking opera (梅派專場), the actor portraying the roles Mei made famous will, of course, be a woman. Famous Taiwanese "Mei-school" performer Wei Hai-min (魏海敏), will star in each of the four segments and also play one of the three outstanding sisters in tonight's wen hsi

production.

Mei himself never played in Taiwan. Instead, his contemporary Gu Zhengciu from Shanghai was invited in 1948 to entertain Chinese Nationalist (KMT) troops. In the end, he laid the foundation for "Taiwan Peking opera" and helped establish performance troops in the army, air force and navy. In 1995, these troupes were transferred from the Ministry of National Defense to the Ministry of Education and combined to form today's National Guoguang Opera Company.

Performance notes
What: National Guoguang Opera Company's (國立國光劇團) spring production
When: Tonight and tomorrow at 7:30pm and Sunday at 2:30pm
Where: Novel Hall (新舞台), located at 3 Sungshou Road, in Taipei
(北市松壽路 三號)
Tickets: Cost between NT$300 and NT$1,200 and are available at the door or by calling (02) 2341 9898, or ordering online at www.ticket.com.tw.
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