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
The year was 1991. A Toyota Land Cruiser set out on a 67km journey up the Junda Forest Road (郡大林道) toward an old loggers’ camp, at which point the hikers inside would get out and begin their ascent of Jade Mountain (玉山). Little did they know, they would be the last group of hikers to ever enjoy this shortcut into the mountains. An approaching typhoon soon wiped out the road behind them, trapping the vehicle on the mountain and forever changing the approach to Jade Mountain. THE CONTEMPORARY ROUTE Nowadays, the approach to Jade Mountain from the north side takes an
Last week Joseph Nye, the well-known China scholar, wrote on the Australian Strategic Policy Institute’s website about how war over Taiwan might be averted. He noted that years ago he was on a team that met with then-president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), “whose previous ‘unofficial’ visit to the US had caused a crisis in which China fired missiles into the sea and the US deployed carriers off the coast of Taiwan.” Yes, that’s right, mighty Chen caused that crisis all by himself. Neither the US nor the People’s Republic of China (PRC) exercised any agency. Nye then nostalgically invoked the comical specter
Relations between Taiwan and the Czech Republic have flourished in recent years. However, not everyone is pleased about the growing friendship between the two countries. Last month, an incident involving a Chinese diplomat tailing the car of vice president-elect Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) in Prague, drew public attention to the People’s Republic of China’s (PRC) operations to undermine Taiwan overseas. The trip was not Hsiao’s first visit to the Central European country. It was meant to be low-key, a chance to meet with local academics and politicians, until her police escort noticed a car was tailing her through the Czech capital. The
April 15 to April 21 Yang Kui (楊逵) was horrified as he drove past trucks, oxcarts and trolleys loaded with coffins on his way to Tuntzechiao (屯子腳), which he heard had been completely destroyed. The friend he came to check on was safe, but most residents were suffering in the town hit the hardest by the 7.1-magnitude Hsinchu-Taichung Earthquake on April 21, 1935. It remains the deadliest in Taiwan’s recorded history, claiming around 3,300 lives and injuring nearly 12,000. The disaster completely flattened roughly 18,000 houses and damaged countless more. The social activist and