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Castration cram school

Eunuch Guaranteed investigates contemporary materialistic culture in a bizarre way. PHOTO: COURTESY OF MEIRENPEIZI THEATER TROUPE

Move over English teachers, there's a new school on Taipei's bushiban scene. New class members get to, er, lose their members.

Not really. Meirenpeizi Theater Troupe (美人胚子劇團) draws on two Chinese cultural traditions - castration and cram schools - to explore materialistic culture and the way people are hoodwinked into following trends that bring little or no happiness.

"Nowadays so many people chase something fashionable and they don't even understand why," said Lin Ching-min (林靘敏), one of the play's actors and the troupe's PR manager. "Once they get what they are chasing, are they really happy? Or do they feel empty."

The play is set during a dynastic period of the troupe's invention - it could be in the past or the future - where eunuch cram schools are all the rage. Parents line up to enroll their young boys in a school that claims it will bring prosperity and power to the young.

Combining video installation, dance, dialogue and sculpture - one room has 10 large metaphorical testicles hanging from the rafters - the 40-minute play is broken down into five scenes, each with its own room.

The first scene takes place in a classroom where a teacher uses a commercial to entice the boy - and other students - to undergo the operation. Presumably the student doesn't buy the logic of the teacher/salesperson as the second scene shows the student in a struggle with the educator.

In the third scene, however, the teacher convinces the young lad about the benefits of cutting his crown jewels off leading to the procedure, which takes place in the fourth scene.

The final scene finds the boy, a little lighter, back in the classroom where the play began and a teacher arguing with parents on the phone. As it turns out, castration has lost its cool and the parents are on the phone demanding a refund.

Oddly, the play portrays the parents as concerned only about getting their money back rather than the castration of their offspring - a statement, perhaps, about local obsessions with money or a thematic oversight on the part of the directors.

The idea that people thoughtlessly follow trends to fit in is a well-worn theme in Taiwan's theater scene. But combining castration with cram schools adds a new dimension by showing that education is also a trend that leaves many consumers empty.

What: Eunuch Guaranteed (太監保證班)

Where: Huashan Culture Park (華山文化園區), 1 Bade Rd Sec 1, Taipei (台北市八德路一段1號)

When: Today, tomorrow and Sunday at 7pm and 8:30pm and tomorrow and Sunday at 2pm

Tickets: NT$100 and are available through NTCH ticketing or online at www.artstickets.com.tw


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