The musical and emotional contrasts of the two productions at the National Kaohsiung Center for the Arts — Weiwuying this weekend could not be more dramatic: A powerful passifistic choral elegy for the dead of two world wars and jazzy riff on one of William Shakespeare’s romantic comedies.
One is a Taiwan debut, the other is a touring revival of a popular 2018 production.
Tickets for either show would normally be hot sellers, but these are not normal times, given the concern about the potential spread of COVID-19 in Taiwan and the reluctance of many people to enter public venues, so there are still plenty of tickets at all price levels.
Photo courtesy of National Kaohsiung Center for the Arts
That means if you are worried about sitting too close to other people, there will be room to spread out.
In addition, the National Performing Arts Center, the umbrella organization for the National Theater Concert Hall in Taipei, Weiwuying and the National Taichung Theater, earlier this month imposed disease-prevention protocols at all of its venues.
Disinfection measures have been increased, employees are required to have their temperatures taken daily and frontline staff must wear masks while on duty, while audience members must have their temperatures checked before entering a venue, and while they are not required to wear masks, it is encouraged.
A Weiwuying-English National Opera (ENO) coproduction of Benjamin Britten’s famed War Requiem, which premiered in London in November 2018, will have its Taiwan premier tomorrow night, an apt choice to honor 228 and the 228 Peace Memorial Day.
Weiwuying artistic director Chien Wen-pin (簡文彬), who will conduct National Taiwan Symphony Orchestra (國立臺灣交響樂團) for the two performances, on Tuesday told a news conference that staging the show on 228 and on the site of a former military encampment, gives the production an added layer of meaning.
War Requiem gives voice to the sense of helplessness and confusion people feel in times of war, he said.
War Requiem premiered on May 30, 1962, to mark the consecration of the rebuilt 14th-century St Michael’s Cathedral in Coventy, England, which had been almost completely destroyed by German bombing on Nov. 14, 1940.
Britten, a noted pacifist and conscientious objector, used the traditional Latin text for a Catholic requiem and battlefield poems by English poet Wilfred Owen, who was killed in France during World War I.
Taiwanese soprano Chen Mei-lin (陳美玲), Welsh tenor Joshua Owen Mills and Singaporean baritone Martin Ng (吳翰衛) are the featured soloists who will perform alongside the Taipei Philharmonic Chorus (台北愛樂合唱團) and the Century Voice Choir (世紀合唱團), a children’s group.
Former ENO artistic director Daniel Kramer has been in Kaohsiung to direct the production, which he created along with Turner Prize-winning photographer Wolfgang Tillmans, who did the stage design.
The production has a running time of 90 minutes and will be performed in Latin and English, with Mandarin and English subtitles.
Next door in the Playhouse, the Tainaner Ensemble’s (台南人劇團) revival of its 2018 jazz musical version of William Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night (第十二夜) opens tomorrow night as well, for the first of two shows.
Directed by Lu Po-Shen (呂柏伸), with music by Blaire Ko (柯智豪) and lyrics by Chao Chi-Yun (趙啟運), this all-singing, all-dancing take on Shakespeare’s comedy about gender and identity, deception and romance, premiered in the fall of 2018 at the Cloud Gate Theater.
Kaohsiung is the second stop of a three-city tour for the revival, and the show moves to Taipei’s Metropolitan Hall next weekend.
The 11-member cast is led by Kyle Lo (凱爾), Liu Ting-fang (劉廷芳) and Tsuei Tai-hao (崔台鎬), with music by the Hot Tubes (哈管幫).
The show runs 150 minutes, with a 15 minute intermission.
Performance Notes
WHAT: Benjamin Britten: War Requiem
WHEN: Tomorrow at 7:30pm and Sunday at 2:30pm
WHERE: The Opera House at the National Kaohsiung Center for the Arts - Weiwuying (衛武營國家藝術文化中心) 1, Sanduo 1st Rd, Kaohsiung City (高雄市三多一路1號)
ADMISSION: NT$300 to NT$4,800, available at Weiwuying box offices, online at www.artsticket.com.tw and at convenience store ticket kiosks
WHAT: Twelfth Night ─ A Shakespearean Musical
WHEN: Tomorrow at 7:30pm and Saturday at 2:30pm
WHERE: The Playhouse at the National Kaohsiung Center for the Arts - Weiwuying (衛武營國家藝術文化中心) 1, Sanduo 1st Rd, Kaohsiung City (高雄市三多一路1號)
ADMISSION: NT$700 to NT$2,000, available at Weiwuying box offices, online at www.artsticket.com.tw and at convenience store ticket kiosks
ADDITIONAL PERFORMANCES: Friday next week at 7:30pm and Saturday at 2:30pm at the Metropolitan Hall (城市舞台), 25 Bade Rd, Sec 3, Taipei (台北市八德路三段25號)
Tickets are NT$600 to NT$1,600, available at National Theater Concert Hall box offices, online at www.artsticket.com.tw and at convenience store ticket kiosks
It’s only half the size of its more famous counterpart in Taipei, but the Botanical Garden of the National Museum of Nature Science (NMNS, 國立自然科學博物館植物園) is surely one of urban Taiwan’s most inviting green spaces. Covering 4.5 hectares immediately northeast of the government-run museum in Taichung’s North District (北區), the garden features more than 700 plant species, many of which are labeled in Chinese but not in English. Since its establishment in 1999, the site’s managers have done their best to replicate a number of native ecosystems, dividing the site into eight areas. The name of the Coral Atoll Zone might
On Monday morning, in quick succession, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) released statements announcing “that the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and General Secretary Xi Jinping (習近平) have invited KMT Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) to lead a delegation on a visit to the mainland” as the KMT’s press release worded it. The KMT’s press release added “Chairwoman Cheng expressed her gratitude for the invitation and has gladly accepted it.” Beijing’s official Xinhua news release described Song Tao (宋濤), head of the Taiwan Work Office of the CCP Central Committee, as
The US war on Iran has illuminated the deep interdependence of Asia on flows of oil and related items as raw materials that become the basis of modern human civilization. Australians and New Zealanders had a wake up call. The crisis also emphasizes how the Philippines is a swatch of islands linked by jet fuel. These revelations have deep implications for an invasion of Taiwan. Much of the commentary on the Taiwan scenario has looked at the disruptions to world trade, which will be in the trillions. However, the Iran war offers additional specific lessons for a Taiwan scenario. An insightful
Polling data often confirms what we expect, but sometimes it throws up surprises. When examined over time, some patterns appear that speak to something bigger going on. In this column, whenever possible, Formosa’s polls are used. Despite the sometimes cringeworthy antics of Formosa’s Chairman, Wu Tzu-Chia (吳子嘉), the data produced includes detailed breakdowns crucial for analysis. It has also been conducted monthly 11-12 times a year for many years with many of the same questions, allowing for analysis over time. When big shifts do occur between one month and the next it is usually in response to some event in
RSS