Girls Sometimes Just Wanna Have Fun (貓狗) is a 90-minute play that its director, Cheng Chih-yuan (鄭智源), says defies an easy explanation.
“I chat with the actors, find something interesting and develop it into a play… I am attracted to people who don’t really know what they are doing. If I work with a professional actor, it becomes predictable,” the 30-year-old director told the Taipei Times.
Cheng, who is collaborating with Oz Theatre Company (柳春春劇社), did offer a clue to viewing his new work.
Photos courtesy of Lin Yu-chuan
The play combines his observation of and reflection on the Sunflower movement, the ideas from which several theater companies have incorporated into their work.
“All of a sudden, we see [theater troupes] thinking theater should again take up the role of social and political critic,” Cheng says.
“It got me thinking: can we really talk about social justice in theater? Since we are not activists, is it really okay that we, as outsiders, place the event in a theatrical space and come up with our own reading of it?” he adds.
Whether or not art can or should directly tackle politics becomes a moral issue and a source of irony in the play. In one segment, a young girl goes about her daily routine, while calling for the abolishment of capital punishment and to fight against anti-LGBT religious bigots.
Oz founder Cheng Chih-chung (鄭志忠) says that Cheng Chih-yuan’s strength lies in his mastery of words and language and his ability to work with actors.
“Most of his works are high-school theater shows. His actors used to be high school students whom we wouldn’t pay much attention to on the streets. But when they are on stage, you will instantly feel for them, connected to them,” Cheng Chih-chung says.
Cheng Chih-yuan will hold a discussion to talk about the work after the matinee performance tomorrow. Participating speakers include theater director Wang Chia-ming (王嘉明) and musician and performance artist Dawang Yingfan Huang (黃大旺).
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