Fantasy Theatre’s (狂想劇場) Cheat to Cheat (賊變), which premiered to great acclaim this May as part of the 16th Crown Arts Festival (皇冠藝術節), will be revived from tonight through Sunday afternoon at Huashan 1914 Creative Park (華山1914) as part of the Huashan Living Arts Festival (華山藝術生活節).
The debut work by Fantasy Theatre, Cheat to Cheat is directed by Liao Jun-kai (廖俊凱) and the script was written by Ho Bing-hsiu (何秉修). Inspired by news coverage of a blind old woman who was killed by a robber, the play explores the treacherous interaction between these two marginalized characters.
Theater actress Felicia Huang (黃婕菲) portrays the role of the blind woman (played in the original version by award-winning actress Lu Yi-ching (陸弈靜)), while actor Wu Kun-da (吳昆達) reprises his role as the robber. Actor Wang Chen-hua (王辰驊) plays the woman’s son.
Photo courtesy of Fantasy Theatre
“The playwright takes a philosopher’s approach to offer a different perspective on morality and hypocrisy,” Liao told the Taipei Times at rehearsals on Tuesday last week. “He investigates how these people lie to themselves and to each other.”
Deeply mesmerizing and unsettling at the same time, the psychological drama is provocative. The young robber initially abandons his plan to attack the woman, but then takes on the identity of her son.
“Portraying this role is like falling into a black hole,” lead actress Huang said about her role as the blind woman.
Liao grounds this morality play against a minimal stage setting, with a chair in the middle, a few props on the side and a white rectangular made of tape on the ground symbolizing the apartment setting and the characters’ mental confine. A musician plays a double bass live at the performance to signify rising tension.
One of the play’s ending lines is spoken by the son while visiting the robber in prison: “I don’t know which jail is scarier, inside or outside.” “That sums up this play,” Liao said. “We are all products of our habits. Our habits define our possibilities and failures.”
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