President `in perfect condition'

President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) yesterday equated his personal health to the nation's economic prospects, saying that a healthy head of state is a guarantee to a promising economy.

"This machine of mine [my body] is in perfect condition," Chen said, adding that he is fully ready to dedicate himself to efforts to revitalize the floundering domestic economy and he is confident that the economy will be reinvigorated successfully under his leadership.

Chen made the remarks between tests during a day-long health check-up, the second of its kind since he took office last May 20, at National Taiwan University Hospital.

The president checked into the hospital at 8am, where more than 30 doctors examined him.

The initial report indicated that Chen stands 166cm tall and weighs 64.9kg, and has a blood pressure reading of 110-70. A problem with his liver appears no longer to be of concern. All the other initial biochemical tests results show Chen to be in very good overall condition.

A lighthearted Chen said when the day finished, he planned to see a show -- King Lear (李爾在此) , a Chinese-language version of William Shakespeare's tragedy, to be played by Wu Hsing-kuo (吳興國), founder and artistic director of the Contemporary Legend Theater, who will play 10 characters during the 100-minute show.

During a 20-minute break in the show, Chen received Wu, who became famous over the last 14 years by putting performers from Taiwan on world-class stages and receiving accolades from critics around the world. His work is complemented by Wu's wife Lin Hsiu-wei (林秀偉) -- dancer, choreographer and producer of King Lear.

Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), meanwhile, is scheduled to meet with Wu, Lin and staff members of the Contemporary Legend Theatre during a cocktail party to be held at the Nobel Hall, where the performance is to be held, after the show.

To allow the audience to understand the characters and see clearly every small change in Wu's facial expressions, Wu decided to put on the show in the relatively smaller Nobel Hall, located on Sungshou Road in eastern Taipei, which has a maximum capacity of 900 seats, rather than at the CKS National Theater, said the spokeswoman.

Another noteworthy point of the play is that all costumes in the show were designed by Hong Kong costume designer and Oscar winner Tim Yap (葉錦添), who designed the costumes for Ang Lee's (李安) Oscar-winning motion picture Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (臥虎藏龍).

Yap, who was also the costume director for Wu's previous plays, including Medea and Oresteia, said King Lear should be a turning point for Wu in his creative career.