Kun opera pits brains against loyalty

The Butterfly Dream, Contemporary Legend Theater's (當代傳奇劇場, CLT) upcoming production, seems a conventional work of Chinese opera compared to 108 Heroes the troupe's most recent piece. Although it blurs the boundaries between Chinese operatic forms and includes Western instruments in the orchestra, there is no sign of the hip-hop and pop orchestration that distinguished 108 Heroes. But under the surface of convention, what is happening in The Butterfly Dream is as modern and experimental as anything the CLT has ever done.

Billed as a work of contemporary Kun opera (崑劇), it has a completely new score by composer Jia Daqun (賈達群) and features the talents of US-based Kun opera star Qian Yi (錢熠). The production also highlights the creative efforts of Lin Hsiu-wei (林秀偉), the CLT's producer.

The Butterfly Dream is based on the Beijing opera Tian Breaks Open Her Husband's Coffin (田氏劈棺). It tells the story of Zhuang Zhou (莊周), the great Taoist philosopher, and how he tests his wife's love for him after returning from 10 years of spiritual and magical training. He pretends to die, returns as a handsome prince while his wife is still in mourning, woos her unsuccessfully but finally convinces her that he is about to die and that only a preparation made from a human brain will save him. Tian, who by this time has given in to the handsome prince's cajoling, decides to break open her deceased husband's coffin to obtain what is required. The prince reveals himself to be her husband in disguise, and in a fit of anguish, Tian commits suicide.

The Beijing opera repertoire has more than its fair share of such morally despicable and misogynistic content, and on the face of it this would seem an unusual subject for the CLT. But dramatically, the story offers considerable potential for Wu Hsing-kuo (吳興國), the CLT's founder, to interact first as husband and then as lover with his co-star Qian. It also allowed Lin to draw on the profound and colorful meditations of Zhuang, who has experienced a huge international revival due to his concerns about the environment and creating a good life in the midst of chaotic times.

In first-time scriptwriter Lin's hands, The Butterfly Dream has undergone a massive transition. Though the plot itself hasn't changed much, the way the story is interpreted has. It's become a way of exploring the nature of love and an exposition on the long-standing relationship between Lin and Wu.

Lin found Kun to be an excellent vehicle for such a project.

"What distinguishes Kun opera from other operatic forms," said Wang An-chi (王安祈), artistic director of the National Guoguang Opera Company (國光劇團) in a lecture about Kun opera and its use in The Butterfly Dream, "is that its focus is not narrative or even descriptive. Beijing opera is great at telling a story, ... but Kun follows a heritage taken from Tang and Song [dynasty] poetry. ... This poetic tradition means that nothing is said directly, but it uses words to build up layer upon layer of images, and these images reveal the emotions of the characters. And in Kun, the favored emotions are ambiguous, and often not even clearly understood by the characters themselves, ... so it is a great tool for exploring the unconscious."

In The Butterfly Dream, the CLT has taken this expressive element and incorporated the stronger dramatic drive of Beijing opera. Musically, the production has also sought to remedy Kun opera's narrow focus on lyrical beauty. According to composer Jia, "Kun's music is very elegant and refined, but in listening to Kun opera as a whole, in musical terms, it is low on dramatic tension, it lacks fullness and color, so my job was to see how we could adapt Kun to a new environment." Jia is a prolific composer and a professor at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music (上海音樂學院).