[ THE WEEKENDER ] An operatic tour de force

By Ian Bartholomew
STAFF REPORTER
Monday, Apr 21, 2008, Page 13

Yue Meiti, right, and Zhang Jingxian play young lovers in Farewell at the Waystation. PHOTO: COURTESY OF THE TAIWAN KUNQU OPERA THEATER

The Shanghai Kun Opera Troupe (¤W®ü±X¼@¹Î) opened its series of three performances at Taipei’s Metropolitan Hall («°¥«»R¥x) on Friday with an outstanding selection of highlights, including the world premiere presentation of the Farewell at the Waystation (ªø«F°e§O) scene from the 13th-century Wang Shi-fu (¤ý¹ê¨j) version of the Western Chamber (¦è´[°O). There was plenty of marvel at, and Shanghai Kun Opera Troupe’s Yue Meiti (©¨¬ü½{), Zhang Jingxian (±iÀR¼_) and Zhang Mingrong (±i»Êºa), the three guest performers, garnered rapturous applause from an appreciative audience.

SOUND CHECK?

It was a great pity that, yet again, performers were let down by sound technicians and an inadequate sound system, with microphone crackle occasionally audible beneath a screeching treble that made the high notes almost unbearable at times. One cannot help but wonder why Taiwan, with its world-class expertise in audiovisual technology, cannot manage to set equalizer levels correctly for theatrical performances? The issue remains unacknowledged, and while praise is heaped on performers, the presentation of their work continues to be treated in a slipshod and slapdash way.

But this is neither the first nor, unfortunately, the last time that this criticism will be raised. Getting back to the performances themselves, they were uniformly excellent, with local talent from the Taiwan Kunqu Opera Theater (¥xÆW±X¦±¼@¹Î), which is hosting and providing support for the event, almost holding their own with the visitors. In the first half, the scene Capture Alive (¬¡®») from the Ming dynasty version of Record of the Water Margin (¤ôâq°O) was a tour de force of formal style clowning in which Zhang Mingrong showed off his formidable talent, managing to combine acrobatics, comic stage business and snappy dialog as he attempted to deal with the ghost of a former lover, who ultimately forces him to commit suicide. The mixture of comedy, placed against a background of love, faithlessness, murder and vicious retribution, gave this scene enormous dramatic tension, and though veering into the ostentatious styles more typical of Beijing Opera, certainly livened up the program.

THE GRAND FINALE

The show ran for nearly three-and-a-half hours, and the audience was clearly being given its money’s worth, though by the time Farewell at the Waystation, the highlight of the show, was presented, exhaustion had begun to set in. Even so, this famous farewell scene was presented beautifully and was an object lesson in how operatic formalism can achieve remarkable emotional power. The scene, which was arranged for the stage by Yue Meiti specifically for this performance, was lovingly choreographed, but, alas, was also the most disastrously affected by the poor sound.

An older generation of purists might find the selection and its presentation distressingly modern, but the strong ticket sales and a growing proportion of younger people in the audience suggest kun opera is finding success in broadening its appeal.