This weekend and next sees the opening of two major local theatrical productions that showcase Taiwan’s determination and skill in breathing new life into the traditional arts.
The King and Queen of the Shang Dynasty (殷商王‧后), which premieres today, was created by the Han Tang Yuefu (漢唐樂府) ensemble for its 30th anniversary.
Next week, Cleopatra and Her Fools (艷后和她的小丑們), an interpretation of Shakespeare’s Antony and Cleopatra by the National Guoguang Opera Company (國立國光劇團), will be presented for the first time.
Photo Courtesy of NTCH
Both were produced under the umbrella of the Taiwan International Festival of the Arts (台灣國際藝術節) and will open at the National Theater, Taipei City.
Han Tang Yuefu specializes in nanguan (南管), or “southern wind,” performance art, which is a musical tradition that dates back more than a thousand years and first arrived in Taiwan in the 16th century.
For this production, Han Tang founder and artistic director Chen Mei-O (陳美娥) has reached back far into the past, retelling the story of Shang Dynasty king Wu Ding (武丁).
Believed to have died in 1192 BC, Wu is the earliest Chinese historical figure whose existence has been confirmed by contemporaneous documents.
The monarch, and his relationship with his warrior wife Fu Hau (婦好), are the subject of a number of legends, and recent archaeology has provided some corroboration of these tales.
Most notably, there was the unearthing of the tomb of the Lady Fu Hao (婦好墓), one of Wu’s wives, in 1976. It is the only Shang Dynasty tomb to date that has not been looted before excavation. This was, according to publicity material released by Han Tang Yuefu, because Wu Ding had her grave built within the palace so he could remain with her even after her death. This unconventional placement of the tomb is thought to have put tomb robbers off the scent.
Hang Tang Yuefu has established a strong reputation for first helping revive the art of nanguan performance, and then for using it in creative ways that have won fans around the world.
Nanguan performances are notorious for their glacial pace, which is all the better to enjoy the high level of refinement that characterizes both the music and the accompanying dance movements. The costumes, designed by Tim Yip (葉錦添) ,will also benefit from close inspection.
In The King and Queen of the Shang Dynasty, Han Tang revisits a moment in ancient Chinese history, combining the group’s deep understanding of nanguan and its huge experience of modern theater technology to create a uniquely spectacular show.
Next week, the much-anticipated Cleopatra and Her Fools will open with Beijing opera diva Wei Hai-ming (魏海敏) in the starring role. The production was written for Wei by Chi Wei-jan (紀蔚然), who said that he believed that the performer was the only actress currently working in Taiwan who could carry off the role of Cleopatra.
Chi, a former dean of drama and theater at the National Taiwan University and a major figure in the world of experimental theater, has deployed an array of contemporary theater techniques to produce the show. Although a creation of Guoguang, Taiwan’s premier Beijing opera company, Cleopatra and Her Fools has the venerable company wandering a long way from its roots.
“This is a completely new kind of opera, drawing material and inspiration from a wide variety of sources,” said composer Li Che-yi (李哲藝).
There are certainly some elements of Beijing opera in the stylized movements and in the singing, but this is mixed up with sounds that might be more at home in a Broadway musical or an Italian opera.
The story of Antony and Cleopatra is well known, and according to Chi, other than pruning down the politics and boosting the romance, nothing much has changed in the adaptation.
“It is necessary to look outward for new inspiration,” Li said. “There have been many productions that seek to combine Asian and Western traditions in various ways. They are still at the experimental stage, and some are unsuccessful. Artists are attempting to find the right balance, and not everything has fallen into place yet.”
Cleopatra’s tale is far from a dusty old story that lacks relevance in the modern world, says Wei Hai-ming.
“It is a story about a woman existing in a world controlled by men. But she uses her wit and her wiles to control these men … It is a situation that many modern women will be familiar with,” she said.
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
Over the course of former President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) 11-day trip to China that included a meeting with Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leader Xi Jinping (習近平) a surprising number of people commented that the former president was now “irrelevant.” Upon reflection, it became apparent that these comments were coming from pro-Taiwan, pan-green supporters and they were expressing what they hoped was the case, rather than the reality. Ma’s ideology is so pro-China (read: deep blue) and controversial that many in his own Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) hope he retires quickly, or at least refrains from speaking on some subjects. Regardless