Seden Society brings 600-year-old `Kunqu' operato the stage

If you're interested in enjoying an evening of Chinese opera, but the Peking style is a bit too harsh-sounding for your taste, kunqu (崑曲) opera might be just the thing.

Seden Society (西田社戲曲工作室), Taiwan's up-and-coming experimental kunqu opera troupe, is performing Portrait of Love (情書) this weekend at the National Theater Hall as the second installment of the New Idea Theater festival.

Seden Society, previously known as Women's Group Theater (女人組劇團), was honored last year as one of the Tai Shin Arts Award "big 10" in the performing arts category. Another of last year's Tai Shin Arts Award honorees, prominent Taiwanese artist and architect Shy Gong (施工忠昊), has created some interesting and unexpected sets for Portrait of Love.

Kunqu has a 600-year his-tory, 400 years more than that of the relatively young Peking opera. It emerged from Kunshan in Jiangsu Province, then spread to nearby provinces, later finding favor in Beijing's imperial courts. Kunqu is noted for its flowing melodies and especially poetic language, which made it a favorite of aristocratic audiences. It is subtler and more refined than its younger, more popular sister from the north.

Less popular, but still brilliant in its own right, kunqu caught the eye of UNESCO and became a "Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity" in 2001, an honor given to 19 other outstanding "endangered" cultural forms of expression from different regions of the world. Kunqu was the only Chinese art form that was included.

Seden's Portrait of Love demonstrates exactly why kunqu shouldn't be allowed to disappear. It's a selection from the kunqu classic West Tower Records (西樓記), which tells the story of a literati who falls in love with a courtesan.

While the poetic lines require at least high-school-level Chinese to appreciate, the style of delivery walks the thin-but-captivating line between expressive and exaggerated. The songs are melodic and soulful, and they avoid the harsh, high pitch that turns many an unaccustomed ear away from Peking Opera.

One of Portrait of Love's more entertaining elements comes in the form of the clown role, a servant played by Ma Zhao-qi (馬照琪). She delivers her lines in the Suzhou dialect, in contrast to the Mandarin spoken by the play's main characters. This playful-sounding pronunciation is a treat for ears accustomed to precise Mandarin and Taiwanese.

Performances will be held in the Experimental Theater on the third floor of the National Theater Hall (21-1 Zhongshan South Road, Taipei) tonight through Sunday night at 7:30pm and also on Sunday for a matinee at 2:30pm. The production will be in Ilan's National Center for the Traditional Arts (國立傳統藝術中心曲藝館) on June 18 and June 19. Tickets can be purchased for NT$400 on-line at www.artsticket.com.tw or by calling (02) 3393 9888.