Robot, ghosts and Chiang Kai-Shek (蔣介石) will take center stage at the Taipei Arts Festival (TAF, 台北藝術節), which celebrates its 17th birthday this year with a diverse program that spans theater, dance, music and acrobatics by artists and troupes from eight countries.
Under the direction of Keng Yi-wei (耿一偉), who has been artistic director since 2012, the festival has emphasized international collaborations with artists and festivals around the world as a way to gain recognition and facilitate artistic exchanges.
La Metamorphose version androide is a co-production by TAF, Japan’s Seinendan Theater Company and Osaka University Robot Theater Project, Festival Automne en Normandie and three other institutes in Europe. It is the latest joint endeavor by theater director Oriza Hirata, android developer Hiroshi Ishiguro and their teams, dedicated to bringing android actors into the theater. Adapted from Franz Kafka’s The Metamorphosis, the work tackles the question of what it means to be human through the tale of a man who wakes up to find himself transformed into a robot.
Photo courtesy of Taipei Arts Festival
Besides the android actor, the show stars Irene Jacob, internationally known for her Cannes-winning work with the late Polish film maestro Krzysztof Kieslowski.
Another international co-production sees Taipei-based Century Contemporary Dance Company (世紀當代舞團) join forces with Fragment 31 from Melbourne, Australia, to present eXchange (雙城交鋒). The work is composed of solo performances by six dancers from Taiwan and Australia, including Tien Hsiao-tzu (田孝慈), Wu Yu-hsien (吳郁嫺), Melanie Lane and Peter Fraser.
The predisposition for encouraging collaborations can also be seen in Hungry Heart (心之所向), a composition of dance performances by Taiwan’s acclaimed choreographer Lin Hsiang-hsiu (林向秀) and her artist colleagues from sjDANCEco, a contemporary dance company in San Jose, California.
Photo courtesy of Taipei Arts Festival
LOCAL FARE
For local productions, Keng says TAF has taken the lead in providing input for bold, original works created by artists for the festival. The Delusion of Home (家的妄想), for example, is a collaboration between Chiayi-based Our Theatre (阮劇團) and filmmaker duo Chuang I-tseng (莊益增) and Yen Lan-chuan (顏蘭權). Inspired by the duo’s photography project of dilapidated homes and villages in Taiwan’s countryside, the work introduces the concept and practice of documentary theater by blending photographs, interviews and other documentary materials with theater to tell of the quest for a homeland.
Interactive theater at its most thrilling, Stops Bus (Stop!巴士) by Shinehouse Theatre (曉劇場) will take place inside a bus driving through Taipei, which, as the story unfolds, is abducted by three supernatural beings who try to reach the nether world. Trapped, audiences are asked to find out who the ghosts are before it is too late.
Photo courtesy of Taipei Arts Festival
As this year’s theme is “the human condition,” Keng says that the selected works present different approaches to exploring humanity through various human relations and emotions, such as politics, technology, love, friendship and family.
Diebe by Deutsches Theater Berlin, Germany, for example, ruminates on what it means to be human. It features 12 characters in 37 episodes on a 360-degree stage.
One of the most talked-about theatrical works in China in recent years, President’s Invitation (蔣公的面子) by the Nanjing University Yesoo Company (南京大學藝術碩士劇團), is a penetrating comedy that examines the intellectual and moral hypocrisy among academics. Set during the Cultural Revolution, the story focuses on three professors, who are to be interrogated over whether or not they accepted a dinner invitation by Chiang Kai-Shek 20 years previously.
Keng says that his goal with this year’s festival is to include as many voices, ideas and viewpoints as possible.
“If we have a robot, why can’t we include ghosts too? We can be futuristic as well as traditional. We can look at grassroots issues at home and the cross-strait history. There is a bit of stuff for everyone,” he says.
Detailed information about the festival and the shows can be found at the event’s Chinese and English-language Web site at www.taipeifestival.org.tw. The festival begins today and runs until Sept. 6.
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