Theater
The Japanese occupation of Taiwan serves as the backdrop of Uhan Shii Theater Group’s (歡喜扮戲團) production Gao Sha Guen (高砂館). Set in 1937 Keelung, the play takes an unromantic look at the illusions and dreams of a group of ordinary people living on the margins of society.
▲National Experimental Theater, Taipei City
▲Today and tomorrow at 7:30pm and tomorrow and Sunday at 2:30pm
▲Tickets are NT$500, available through NTCH ticketing
Heart of Ocean (海洋之心) is a diabolo dance performance by Diabolo Dance Theater (舞鈴劇場) that portrays life underwater.
▲Metropolitan Hall (城市舞台), 25, Bade Rd Sec 3, Taipei City (台北市八德路三段25號)
▲Today and tomorrow at 7:30pm and Sunday at 2:30pm
▲Tickets are NT$300 to NT$1,100, available through NTCH ticketing
The Puppet and Its Double Theater (無獨有偶工作室劇團) revises its The Happy Prince (快樂王子), a puppet performance based on Oscar Wilde’s fairy tale of the same name.
▲Chiayi Performing Arts Center (嘉義縣表演藝術中心), 265, Jianguo Rd Sec 2, Minsyong Township, Chiayi County (嘉義縣民雄鄉建國路二段265號)
▲Tomorrow at 2:30pm and 7:30pm
▲Tickets are NT$300, available through NTCH ticketing
Taiwan’s expulsion from the UN in 1971 serves as the background for Ping-Fong Acting Troupe’s (屏風表演班) latest work Stand by Me (六義幫). Written and directed by Hugh Lee (李國修), the story follows six youths who use an air raid shelter as a meeting place to discuss their roles in history.
▲Metropolitan Hall (城市舞台), 25, Bade Rd Sec 3, Taipei City (台北市八德路三段25號)
▲Sunday at 2:30pm and 7:30pm
▲Tickets are NT$500 to NT$2,500, available through NTCH ticketing
The Prince of Tennis is a musical based on the popular Japanese manga and anime series of the same name. The production takes the form of tennis matches, which in its Taiwan debut are between two rival schools in a national tournament.
▲Novel Hall (新舞台), 3-1 Songshou Rd, Taipei City (台北市松壽路3-1號)
▲Sunday at 2pm and 7pm
▲Tickets are NT$900 to NT$2,200, available through NTCH ticketing
Dance
The Paul Taylor Dance Company opens its three-performance run of the Novel Hall 2008 Dance Series tonight at 8pm with Mercuric Tidings, Byzantium and Esplanade. [See preview on Page 13 of the Friday, Oct. 10 edition of the Taipei Times.] As of press time there were still a few tickets left for tonight, but tomorrow night and Sunday’s matinee are both sold-out.
▲Tonight at 8pm
▲Novel Hall (新舞台), 3-1 Sungshou Rd, Taipei City (台北市松壽路3-1號)
▲Tickets are NT$800, NT$1,000 and NT$1,500, available through www.ticket.com.tw. Call (02) 2723-7953 for information about tickets
Artistic director Yao Shu-fen (姚淑芬) presents Welcome: Flashmob to Yongkang Street, Taipei (世紀當代舞團2008《歡迎光臨.永康藝族》) held by Century Contemporary Dance Company (世紀當代舞團), which showcases the work of emerging choreographers. The festival features indoor and outdoor performances by six teams of choreographers
▲Indoor performances are at the Century Contemporary Dance Studio, 40, Ln 23, Yongkang St, Taipei City (台北市永康街23巷40號). Outdoor performances will be held “flash mob”-style at various places around the Yongkang area
▲Indoor performances are tonight at 7:30pm and tomorrow at 6pm and 8pm; outdoor performances are tomorrow and Sunday from 1pm to 5:15pm
▲Tickets for each indoor performance are NT$200, available from NTCH ticket outlets. Visit www.artsticket.com.tw or call (02) 3393-9888
Classical
Trio Achat Concert Tour (艾哈特三重奏音樂會). German musicians Reinhold Heise (violin) and Ulf Schade (cello), and Tseng Yi-fei (曾一菲) play works by Beethoven, Dvorak and Franke.
▲Today at 7:30pm
▲National Recital Hall, Taipei City
▲Tickets are NT$300 to NT$500, available through ERA ticketing
A Love Story about Taipei and Shanghai (上海.台北 — 雙城戀曲 — 2008台北愛樂合唱劇場) features the Taipei Philharmonic Chamber Choir (台北愛樂室內合唱團) and Taipei Philharmonic Theater (愛樂劇工廠) performing with special guest Qi Qi (齊奇) from the Shanghai opera scene, and Chung Hsiao-tan (鍾筱丹), Lin Tzu-yin (林姿吟) and Hu Yue-jy (胡與之) from Taiwan. The program includes popular pieces from both sides of the Taiwan Strait.
▲Today and tomorrow at 7:30pm (Taipei) and Wednesday at 7:30pm (Hsinchu)
▲Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall (國父紀念館), 505, Renai Rd Sec 4, Taipei City (台北市仁愛路四段505號); Hsinchu Municipal Auditorium (新竹市文化局演藝廳), 17, Tungta Rd Sec 2, Hsinchu City (新竹市東大路二段17號)
▲Tickets are NT$300 to NT$1,500 at both venues, available through NTCH ticketing
Laughing at the Spring Wind; Sighing Over an Autumn Journey — A Performance by Wang Xinxin (王心心作場 — 笑春風•嘆秋途) brings nanguan (南管) virtuoso Wan Xinxin (王心心) to the stage once again to perform with dance accompaniment. The concert is based on two famous historical stories, the first a panegyric of the great Tang Dynasty beauty Yang Guifei (楊貴妃) and the second of Wang Zaojun (王昭君), the Han Dynasty princess who was married off to a barbarian king to buy peace.
▲Today, tomorrow and Sunday at 7:30pm; tomorrow at 2:30pm
▲Zhongshan Hall (台北市中山堂), 98 Yenping S Rd, Taipei City (台北市延平南路98號)
▲Tickets are NT$600 to NT$3,000, available through NTCH ticketing
Classic Africa Impressions With Lien Percussion (古典非洲印象 — 連雅文打擊樂團) sees the percussion orchestra and guest artists Maarten Smit and Peter Vulperhorst in a concert that “blends classical elements with modern LOHAS culture.” The program includes orchestra leader Lien Ya-wen’s (連雅文) most recent composition Impressions, Vulperhorst’s Fragile and Farandole and Smit’s Kamalot, as well as Ling Kou-chou’s (凌國周) Eternal Child (拉丁爵士嘉年華), Alan Chan’s (陳廣揚) Sweet Bach (甜美巴哈) and Ho Chen-chen’s (何真真) In the Sky of Africa (非洲的天空下).
▲Tomorrow at 7:30pm
▲National Concert Hall, Taipei City
▲Tickets are NT$400 to NT$1,000, available through NTCH ticketing
Contemporary
Linkin Park’s concert at Zhongshan Soccer Stadium, originally scheduled for tonight, has been canceled because lead singer Chester Bennington has sustained a back injury and was told by doctors not to travel, according to a statement issued by the band. The popular California rock group canceled its entire Music for Relief tour benefit tour for survivors of the Sichuan earthquake, which included dates in Macau and China.
▲Tickets can be refunded from today through Oct. 31.
▲For more information, call Brokers Brothers Herald at (02) 2546-6176 or ERA Ticketing at (02) 2341-9898
The Urban Nomad Film Program at the 2008 Taipei Biennial concludes this weekend with Sierra Leone’s Refugee All Stars, a film about six musicians who flee their war-ravaged country. The film follows the musicians as they meet at a refugee camp, form a band and return to Sierra Leone. Also screening is Random Shorts, a series of skateboarding films shot on 8mm film.
▲Taipei Brewery (台北啤酒文化園區), also known as the Taipei Beer Factory, 85, Bade Rd Sec 2, Taipei City (台北市八德路二段85號)
▲Tomorrow at 7:30pm
▲No admission fee
Tonight at VU Live House is The Breakin’ Point, presented by Spiked Taiwan and featuring DJs Vdub, Subtle, and Poverty. Reggae vibes hit the house tomorrow with Reggae Me Crazy: Skaraoke and High Tide, and DJs Katzu and Mighty Lion of Jamaican soundsystem Black Reign International.
▲B1, 77, Wuchang St Sec 2, Taipei City (台北市武昌街二段77號B1). Call (02) 2314-1868 for more information
▲Shows begin at 10pm
▲Entry is NT$400 and includes two drinks
Tonight Underworld (地下社會) hosts this week’s segment of the Taiwan Band Festival, which takes place at a different live music venue every week until Nov.1 [See Page 14 of the Oct. 10, 2008, edition of the Taipei Times for details.] Tonight’s lineup: indie-electronica singer Veraqueen and post-rockers Orange Grass (橙草). Performing afterwards are Chen Yi-ying (陳怡穎) and Lee Ruo-han (李若涵) take to the stage. Electronica rock outfits Unfamiliar Friends Party (不熟的朋友) and Digihai play tomorrow night.
▲B1, 45 Shida Rd, Taipei City (台北市師大路45號B1). Call (02) 2369-0103 or visit www.upsaid.com/underworld for more information
▲Tonight’s Taiwan Band Festival segment goes from 9pm to 10:30pm. The set afterwards goes from 10:30pm to midnight. Seating is limited. Tomorrow night’s show is from 9:30pm to 11:30pm
▲Admission is free for the Taiwan Band Festival segment and NT$300 (with one drink) for other weekend shows
A few weeks ago I found myself at a Family Mart talking with the morning shift worker there, who has become my coffee guy. Both of us were in a funk over the “unseasonable” warm weather, a state of mind known as “solastalgia” — distress produced by environmental change. In fact, the weather was not that out of the ordinary in boiling Central Taiwan, and likely cooler than the temperatures we will experience in the near-future. According to the Taiwan Adaptation Platform, between 1957 and 2006, summer lengthened by 27.8 days, while winter shrunk by 29.7 days. Winter is not
Taiwan’s post-World War II architecture, “practical, cheap and temporary,” not to mention “rather forgettable.” This was a characterization recently given by Taiwan-based historian John Ross on his Formosa Files podcast. Yet the 1960s and 1970s were, in fact, the period of Taiwan’s foundational building boom, which, to a great extent, defined the look of Taiwan’s cities, determining the way denizens live today. During this period, functionalist concrete blocks and Chinese nostalgia gave way to new interpretations of modernism, large planned communities and high-rise skyscrapers. It is currently the subject of a new exhibition at the Taipei Fine Arts Museum, Modern
March 25 to March 31 A 56-year-old Wu Li Yu-ke (吳李玉哥) was straightening out her artist son’s piles of drawings when she inadvertently flipped one over, revealing the blank backside of the paper. Absent-mindedly, she picked up a pencil and recalled how she used to sketch embroidery designs for her clothing business. Without clients and budget or labor constraints to worry about, Wu Li drew freely whatever image came to her mind. With much more free time now that her son had found a job, she found herself missing her home village in China, where she
In recent years, Slovakia has been seen as a highly democratic and Western-oriented Central European country. This image was reinforced by the election of the country’s first female president in 2019, efforts to provide extensive assistance to Ukraine and the strengthening of relations with Taiwan, all of which strengthened Slovakia’s position within the European Union. However, the latest developments in the country suggest that the situation is changing rapidly. As such, the presidential elections to be held on March 23 will be an indicator of whether Slovakia remains in the Western sphere of influence or moves eastward, notably towards Russia and