“When I first saw Pei's performances on video tape over a decade ago, I was so completely overwhelmed that I seriously considered giving up my training in Beijing Opera and switching to another trade,” theater director of the National Guoguang Chinese Opera Company (國光劇團) Li Shao-ping (李小平) said, describing his first encounter with Pei Yen-ling (裴豔玲), the legendary performer of traditional Beijing Opera in China.
Hailed as a “world-class female performer,” Pei first appeared on the stage in Taiwan in 1993, then again in 1994, when her mesmerizing operatic singing and martial arts skills won the hearts of local opera fans. Invited by the Guoguang Opera Company, the 60-year-old virtuoso will join the troupe, and top local performers Wei Hai-min (魏海敏) and Tang Wen-hua (唐文華), to once again put local Beijing opera fans in awe with the five-day traditional operatic performances featuring nine pieces at the National Theater (國家戲劇院) starting next Wednesday.
A versatile performer, Pei specializes in the roles of the bearded elderly male (Laosheng, 老生), the acrobatic lead male (Wusheng, 武生) and the fiery-tempered male (Hualian, 花臉). Pei will demonstrate to local audiences the two styles of Beijing opera she has mastered: wu xi (武戲) focusing on acrobatics and martial-arts skills and wen xi (文戲), which emphasizes highly stylized acting and operatic singing.
PHOTOS COURTESY OF NATIONAL GUOGUANG CHINESE OPERA COMPANY
Born in 1947 to a Beijing opera family in Hebei Province (河北省), Pei received solid training in Beijing opera during her formative years. However at the age of 12, the future Beijing opera maestro turned to Hebei Bangzi (河北梆子), a regional opera popular in the southern part of Hebei, which was ideal for tragic and heroic dramas.
Pei stayed and helped to build up the popularity of this regional opera form for over 30 years and has become China's leading exponent of Hebei Bangzi. She rocketed to international fame with the much lauded roles of Chung Kui (鍾馗), the demon-slayer, Wu Song (武松), the tiger killer and Lin Chung (林沖) from The Water Margin (水滸傳), and twice received the highest honor in Chinese opera, the Plum Blossom Award, first in 1985 and again in 1995.
Pei's operatic roots remain in Beijing opera, thought her performances have been in fact a fusion of Bangzi, Kun opera (崑劇) and Beijing opera. Though Bangzi, as a regional opera, has more flexibility and space for creative input from artists, Pei decided to return to the traditional Beijing opera at the age of 50.
Taking up the role of director of the Hebei Beijing Opera Theater (河北京劇院) in 2004, Pei advocated the development of the pure form of Beijing opera, that is, to bring the character to life not merely through impeccable skills but through strong emotions and empathy that can resonate in the heart of the audience.
During the past six weeks rehearsing for the nine traditional opera pieces, members of the Guoguang troupe all agree that it's like a dream come true to work with Pei and to see how passionately Pei treats her art. “Every time we rehearse the emotion-charged scene from Chung Kui where Chung marries off his sister to his best friend, Pei and the performer who plays the sister would both be moved to tears. That's how deeply Pei is able to affect the performers who work with her. It is hard to imagine when you consider the fact that Pei has played the part hundreds of times,” Lee said.
For next week's performances, accompanied by music masters from the Hebei Beijing Opera Theater, Pei and her husband Kuo Ching-chun (郭景春) have adapted all the Bangzi and Kun opera pieces for Beijing opera's style of singing and speaking.
For wu xi fans, Pei will perform her most celebrated role of Chung Kui to a full house on opening night. Despite her age, Pei will wear the heavy costume of the great warrior in which she will perform stunts, including a backward somersault from a chair.
When asked whether Pei can still master the physically demanding roles, Li confessed, “at first I also had some doubts about it, but she has proved to be an unparalleled performer, transcending all categories of age or sex.”
Besides her martial-art laden portraits of Monkey King and Wu Song, Pei will further surprise the audience with her rarely displayed operatic skills of the Yu-school (余派) on the second day.
When explaining the value of the Yu-school's singing skills for the role of Laosheng, Li told Taipei Times, “the founder of the Yu-school, Yu Shu–yan (余叔岩), retired from the opera scene at the age of 48, admitting the singing techniques he created were simply too difficult to master. But Pei, in her 50s, began to study these most taxing singing skills … and when we jokingly suggested she should pick an easier school, she replied, ‘but it wouldn't be as satisfying and challenging.’”
In the last two days of Pei's visit to Taipei, the audience will see the virtuoso push her own limits by playing two roles in Prosperity Brought by the Dragon and the Phoenix (龍鳳呈祥) and four characters in Conquering Eastern Wu Dynasty (伐東吳) from The Romance of the Three Kingdoms (三國演義). Has the Beijing opera heroine gone too far? Pei is said to smile away the concern by saying “no, it's not exhausting at all. No one has ever done it and I think it will have a great appeal for the audience.”
Performance Notes:
What: Yen-ling Pei in Chinese Opera (裴豔玲演京劇)
Where: National Theater (國家戲劇院)
When: Aug. 9 to 12 at 7:30pm, Aug 13 at 2:30pm
Tickets: NT$300 tp NT$1,500, available through NTCH ticketing outlets; visit www.artsticket.com.tw or call (02) 3393-9888
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