Theater
Madame Bovary is Me. Edward Lam (林奕華) returns to Taiwan with his adaptation of Flaubert's classic novel Madame Bovary. Infusing the play with iconography from Taiwan, the play takes a critical look at contemporary society's obsession with icons and consumer culture.
* Eslite Theater, 6F, 11 Songgao Rd, Taipei (台北市松高路11號6樓)
* Today, tomorrow, Sunday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday at 7:30pm and tomorrow and Sunday at 2:30pm
* Tickets are NT$600 and are available through NTCH ticketing
Roadkill (攔截，公路) by Playbox Theater Ensemble (戲盒劇團) was inspired by a roadtrip director Tu Shih-hue (杜思慧) took around Australia. The play begins with the story of an accident and develops into a work about the relationship between speed and the passing landscape and how this affects human perceptions of the external, the real and the imagined.
* Eslite Culture and Art Space (城品藝文空間), B2, 245 Dunhua S Rd Sec 1, Taipei (台北市敦化南路一段245號B2)
* Today and tomorrow at 7:30pm and tomorrow and Sunday at 2:30pm
* Tickets are NT$450 and available through NTCH ticketing
The Half-Mile Great Wall (半里長城) by Ping Fong Acting Troupe (屏風表演班) takes a humorous look at the building of the Great Wall.
* Novel Hall (新舞臺), 3-1 Sungshou S Rd, Taipei (台北市松壽路3-1號)
* Today, tomorrow and Sunday at 7:30pm and tomorrow and Sunday at 2:30pm
* Tickets are NT$500 to NT$2,500 and are available through NTCH ticketing (Note: NT$500 to NT$800 are already sold out)
Dinner for One (一個人的晚餐) is a play by Theatre de la Sardine (沙丁龐客劇團) that explores the frustrations a single woman experiences in her daily existence.
* Guling St Theater (牯嶺街小劇場), 2, Ln 5, Guling St, Taipei (台北市牯嶺街5巷2號)
* Today and tomorrow at 7:30pm and tomorrow and Sunday at 2:30pm
* Tickets are NT$400 and available through NTCH ticketing
Monkey King at Spider Cave (孫悟空大戰蜘蛛精) is an episode adapted from the Chinese classic Journey to the West (西遊記) by shadow puppeteer Larry Reed and The Puppet and Its Double Theater (無獨有偶工作室劇團). It features the heroic Monkey King battling against the flesh-hungry Spider Demon and his hoard of evil insects.
* Ilan Municipal Auditorium (宜蘭演藝廳), 482 Chungshan Rd Sec 2, Ilan City (宜蘭市中山路二段482號)
* Tomorrow at 7:30pm and Sunday at 2:30pm
* Tickets are NT$250 to NT$800 and are available through www.artsticket.com.tw
2007 — Taipei Traditional Arts festival (2007 臺北市傳統藝術季). This weekend's celebration of Chinese and Taiwanese culture and arts kicks off tonight when the Taipei Chinese Orchestra (臺北市立國樂團) and Guoguang Opera (國光劇團) Company team up to perform Kuei Wang deceiving Guei-ying (王魁負桂英) on Friday and Saturday and The New Legend of the Embroidered Coat (新繡襦記) on Sunday. Both performances are meant to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the birth of the play's creator, the renowned Taiwanese playwright Yu Ta-wang (俞大網).
* Metropolitan Hall (城市舞台), 25 Bade Rd Sec 3, Taipei (台北市八德路三段25號)
Kuei Wang Deceiving Guei-ying (王魁負桂英) will be performed today at 7:30pm and tomorrow at 2:30pm and 7:30pm; The New Legend of the Embroidered Coat (新繡襦記) will be performed Sunday at 2:30pm and 7:30pm
* Tickets are NT$300 to NT$1,200 and are available through ERA ticketing at www.ticket.com.tw
On Monday, some classic Kun Opera will be performed at Zhongshan Hall with Laments for Four Beauties (四美悲歌), a historical tale about four unlucky women caught up in the political intrigue of their time.
* Taipei Zhongshan Hall (台北市中山堂), 98 Yenping S Rd, Taipei (台北市延平南路98號)
* Monday at 7:30pm
* Tickets are NT$200 to NT$800 and are available through ERA ticketing at
www.ticket.com.tw
Classical Music
Taishin Arts Center Lunch Time Concert — Forum Music (台新金控藝文中心午間音樂會 — 十方樂集室內樂團). A part of the Taishin Arts Center's (台新金控藝文中心) 5th Taishin Arts Award Exhibition. Forum Music, founded by renowned percussionist Hsu Po-nien (徐伯年) in 1996, will perform a one-hour concert featuring cellist Huang Hung-jung (黃紅溶), pianist Yan Wan-hui (顏琬蕙), and narrator Tu Hsien-ching (涂弦慶). The program of works will include Saint-Saens' The Swan, Bach's Unaccompanied Cello Suite No. 2 in D Minor, BWV 1008, and Debussy's Prelude, Book 1, No. 12, Minstrels and Cello Sonata.
* At the Taishin Arts Center, 2F, 118 Renai Rd Sec 4, Taipei (台北市仁愛路四段118號2樓)
* Admission is free
* Today at 12:30pm
He Jun-heng Viola Recital — Memories from Childhood (何君恆中提琴獨奏會 — 童年往事). He graduated from Ecole Normale de Musique de Paris, won the first prize in the L'UFAM International Viola Competition, joined 2E2M, a Paris-based classical music ensemble, in 1994, and toured extensively in Europe. Currently, He is a principal violist at Taipei Symphony Orchestra. Joined by pianist Kuo Yu-chun (郭育君), He will present a program of works, including Telemann's Concerto in G Major, Handel's Concerto in B Minor, Hummel's Fantasia, Weber's Andante e Rondo ungarese, Bach's Concerto in C Minor, Vivaldi's Concerto in D Minor, 1st Mvt., and Seitz's Concerto No. 2, 3rd Mvt., Concerto No. 3, 1st Mvt., and Concerto No. 5, 1st Mvt.
* At the National Recital Hall, Taipei
* As of press time, NT$250 to NT$350 tickets are sold out, but NT$500 seats are still available through ERA ticketing
* Sunday at 2:30pm
2007 Classical Music Series — London Symphony Orchestra and pianist Lang Lang (世紀古典音樂年2007系列 — 倫敦交響樂團vs.郎朗). The London Symphony Orchestra (LSO) is widely regarded to be amongst the top orchestras in the world and 100 years after it was formed, it still attracts the best players. The LSO, conducted by 32-year-old conductor Daniel Harding, will give two concerts with renowned 25-year-old pianist Lang Lang in Taipei on Sunday and Monday. All tickets for the Sunday concert are sold out, and the Monday concert has been fully booked by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company. For people who did not get the chance to purchase concert tickets before they were sold out, both concerts will be broadcast live outside the concert hall on a giant screen. The program will include Dvorak's Slavonic Dance, No.4, Op.72, Mozart's Piano Concerto in G Major, No.17, K.453, and Berlioz's Symphonie Fantastique, Op.14. Also, the LSO said that given its principal trumpet player Maurice Murphy's retirement this coming June, the orchestra will dedicate the theme of the film Star Wars as an encore piece in its Taiwan tour to Murphy, whose work can be heard on all six of the Star Wars movies.
* At the National Concert Hall, and the square outside the National Concert Hall, Taipei
* All tickets are sold out, but outdoor live broadcasts of two concerts will be screened free of charge
* Sunday and Monday at 7:30pm
Zoe vs. Ars Trio Taipei — "Jeg elsker dig" Salute to Grieg (Zoe與印象三重奏團 — 「我愛妳」紀念葛利格逝世100週年音樂會). Since its inception in 1993, Ars Trio Taipei has been the most active piano trio in Taiwan and keeps performing and planning intensive chamber concert activities. For the development of classical music in Taiwan, the group has made plans for a series of thematic concerts to introduce classical music to new audiences. Featuring soprano Zoe Hwang (黃瑞芬), pianist Hung Ya-jung (洪雅蓉), violinist Chen Fang-liu (陳方騮), and cellist Jessica Chen (陳俐亨), the concert will pay tribute to the late Norwegian romantic-era composer Edvard Grieg. The program will include the world premiere of Grieg's From Holberg's Time, Op.40, arranged by Chen Fang-liu, Mendelssohn's Jerusalem, from "St. Paul", Chopin's Piano Trio, Op.8, Grieg's Jeg elsker Dig (I Love You) and A Dream. A concert lecture will be held at 3pm on May 5 in the lobby of the Eslite Dunnan Bookstore (誠品敦南店1樓大廳), 245 Dunhua S Rd Sec 1, Taipei (台北市敦化南路一段245號) and admission to the lecture is free. Also, concert program booklets can be obtained free of charge with tickets for the two concerts.
* Wednesday at Taichung's Shinmin Senior High School (新民中學藝術中心), 289 Sanmin Rd Sec 3, Taichung City (台中市三民路三段289號) and May 9 at the National Recital Hall, Taipei
* Tickets cost NT$300 for the Taichung concert and NT$500 for the Taipei concert through ERA ticketing
* Wednesday and May 9 at 7:30pm
Contemporary
Foul-mouthed taike rocker Chang Chen-yue (張震嶽) and his band Free Night play The Wall (這牆) tonight, with nu-metal band Overdose and Hsiao Tien (小天). Tomorrow it's indie-pop band Fire Extinguisher (滅火器) and electronica group Digihai. Wednesday features pop/fusion combo They're Lisa (他們是力殺) and post-rock band Big Egg Hell Dog (巨蛋地獄狗).
* Entrance tonight is NT$600. Tomorrow is NT$400 for advance tickets. Wednesday is NT$300
* Shows starts at 8pm except
* B1, 200 Roosevelt Rd Sec 4, Taipei (台北市羅斯福路四段200號B1). Call (02) 2930-0162 or visit www.the-wall.com.tw
Riverside Cafe (河岸留言) hosts groovin' jazz orchestra G.J.O. Big Band tonight. Tomorrow features indie-rock four-piece Back Quarter (四分衛), a band that was founded during Taiwan's alternative music revolution of the early 1990s and has toyed with styles ranging from garage to pop to guitar-heavy hard rock. On Sunday jazz combo Delta on the Main Street take the stage. Monday is open-jam night, when anyone with a song can perform. Huang Chien-wei (黃健為) and Puyuma musicians Wu Hao-en (吳昊恩) and Chi Jia-ying (紀家瑩) perform Tuesday. On Wednesday it's crowd-pleasing Aboriginal rockers Totem (圖騰), who on a recent visit to Riverside caused a line to form out the door. Then on Thursday it's classical and contemporary jazz with Hung Chun-hui and Wei Niang (洪筠惠與威良), a four-piece jazz ensemble, followed by comedic band Open Eyes (歐噴愛).
* The music starts at 9:30pm each night
* Entrance tonight is NT$400. Tomorrow, Sunday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday is NT$350. On Monday there is a one-drink minimum
* B1, 2, Ln 244, Roosevelt Rd Sec 3, Taipei (台北市羅斯福路三段244巷2號B1). Call (02) 2368-7310, or visit www.riverside.com.tw
Post-rock band Emily (艾蜜莉) takes the stage tonight at Underworld (地下社會), followed by the alternatively festive and moody modern rockers 88 Balaz (八十八顆芭樂籽). Tomorrow it's Brit-pop-sounding Bitter, with Tube (地下鐵).
* The bar opens at 8pm and bands take the stage at 9pm
* Entrance is NT$300
* B1, 45 Shida Rd, Taipei (台北市師大路45號B1). Call (02) 2369 0103 or visit www.underworld-taipei.blogspot.com for more information
Tonight at the Living Room (小客廳), there's a performance by pop-rock band Luan Ru (亂入), followed by a lineup comprised of alt-rock bands Hi-Lite 17mg (Hi-Lite17毫克), Jar'n Jam (扎一針) and Bling Bling Bling. Tomorrow it's another concert of popular South African singer-songwriter and Living Room regular David Foster.
* Tonight's performances start at 9pm and 10pm. Tomorrow's starts at 10pm
* There is a minimum charge of NT$300 for each of tonight's shows and for tomorrow's performance
* 3F, 8 Nanjing E Rd Sec 5, Taipei (台北市南京東路五段8號3樓). Call (02) 8787-4154 or visit www.livingroomtaipei.com
Pop-rock bands BSD, Rolling Dice (搖滾骰子) and Survival Influence (存活勢力) perform tonight Velvet Underground (地下絲絨).
* Bands take the stage tonight at 8pm
* Admission is NT$300 or NT$250 for students
* B1, 50 Zhongxiao W Rd Sec 1, Taipei (台北市忠孝西路一段50號B1). Call (02) 2314-1868 or visit www.velvet-underground.com.tw
Grooveyard in Taichung presents expat Irish party band The Idiots tonight and The Martijn Van Buel Ensemble, playing jazz salsa and soul, tomorrow. Meanwhile, sister venue Groovecity hosts The Martijn Van Buel Ensemble tonight, Aboriginal folk-rocker Eagle Lin tomorrow, and house jazz combo 'Round Midnight on Sunday.
* The music starts at 9pm tonight and tomorrow, and runs from noon to 2pm and 6pm to 8pm on Sunday
* Grooveyard entrance is NT$200 tomorrow. Groovecity entrance is NT$300
* Groovecity is inside Tiger City (台中老虎城旁停車場) at 120 Henan Rd Sec 3, Taichung (台中市河南路三段120號老虎城). Grooveyard is located at 2F, 105 Huamei W Rd, Taichung (台中市華美西街105號2樓). Visit www.grooveyardtaiwan.com or call 0939-574-737 for more information
Bluegrass band the Soggy Bagel Boys play upstairs at On Tap this and every Thursday.
* The music starts at 10pm
* Entrance is free
* Address: 49, Ln 308, Guangfu S Rd, Taipei (台北市光復南路308巷49號).
* Call: (02) 2741-5365
Exhibitions
London-esque Body Aesthetics (人體美學英倫風). A joint photo exhibition on the human body by three notable photographers from Hong Kong, Lester Lee (李志超), Alan Yu (余達明) and Julian Lee (李寶勳). Advancing their academic trainings in London during the 1980s, the three featured artists have been deeply influence by the theory and practice of post-romanticism and combined the ideas inspired by London's progressive street culture to create their own original styles.
* Jazz Photography Gallery (爵士攝影藝廊), 2F, 433 Bade Rd Sec 2, Taipei (台北市八德路二段433號2樓). Open Monday through Sunday, from 10am to 6pm. Call (02) 2741-2256
* Until Thursday
Beyond Absence — Maggie Hsun-wei Hsu Solo Exhibition (隱無之外 — 徐洵蔚作品展). Through her multimedia works, artist Hsu examines and analyzes the external appearance of material existence in an attempt to express the concept of "co-existence of the self and the other" and the longing for "oblivion of the self and the other."
* National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts (國立台灣美術館), 2 Wuchuan W Rd Sec 1, Taichung (台中市五權西路一段2號). Open Tuesday to Sunday from 9am to 5pm. Call (04) 2372-3552
* Until May 6
Body Sketch (素描身體 — 不斷糾纏增衍的線條) A solo exhibition of Lin Shu-man (林書曼) features large-scale sketches and sculptures that lead the visitor into the world of the artist's creative use of sewing and stitching.
* Pacific Cultural Foundation (太平洋文化基金會藝術中心), B1, 38 Chongqing S Rd Sec 3, Taipei (台北市重慶南路三段38號B1). Open Monday to Saturday from 10am to 5pm. Call (02) 2337-7155
* Until May 5
Chinatown — Dizzy: Performative Video and Photography by Yao Jui-chung (天旋地轉 — 姚瑞中行為錄像攝影展). Following his decade-long performative trilogy studying the historical subjectivity of Taiwan, the award-winning artist's latest one-channel video work and photography make sharp criticisms of globalization and its accomplice nationalism.
* Chi-Wen Gallery, 3F, 19, Ln 252, Dunhua S Rd Sec 1, Taipei (台北市敦化南路一段252巷19號3樓). Open Tuesday to Saturday from 11am to 7pm. Call (02) 8771-3372
* Until June 16
A white horse stark against a black beach. A family pushes a car through floodwaters in Chiayi County. People play on a beach in Pingtung County, as a nuclear power plant looms in the background. These are just some of the powerful images on display as part of Shen Chao-liang’s (沈昭良) Drifting (Overture) exhibition, currently on display at AKI Gallery in Taipei. For the first time in Shen’s decorated career, his photography seeks to speak to broader, multi-layered issues within the fabric of Taiwanese society. The photographs look towards history, national identity, ecological changes and more to create a collection of images
A series of dramatic news items dropped last month that shed light on Chinese Communist Party (CCP) attitudes towards three candidates for last year’s presidential election: Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) founder Ko Wen-je (柯文哲), Terry Gou (郭台銘), founder of Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), also known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), and New Taipei City Mayor Hou You-yi (侯友宜) of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT). It also revealed deep blue support for Ko and Gou from inside the KMT, how they interacted with the CCP and alleged election interference involving NT$100 million (US$3.05 million) or more raised by the
In 2020, a labor attache from the Philippines in Taipei sent a letter to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs demanding that a Filipina worker accused of “cyber-libel” against then-president Rodrigo Duterte be deported. A press release from the Philippines office from the attache accused the woman of “using several social media accounts” to “discredit and malign the President and destabilize the government.” The attache also claimed that the woman had broken Taiwan’s laws. The government responded that she had broken no laws, and that all foreign workers were treated the same as Taiwan citizens and that “their rights are protected,
March 16 to March 22 In just a year, Liu Ching-hsiang (劉清香) went from Taiwanese opera performer to arguably Taiwan’s first pop superstar, pumping out hits that captivated the Japanese colony under the moniker Chun-chun (純純). Last week’s Taiwan in Time explored how the Hoklo (commonly known as Taiwanese) theme song for the Chinese silent movie The Peach Girl (桃花泣血記) unexpectedly became the first smash hit after the film’s Taipei premiere in March 1932, in part due to aggressive promotion on the streets. Seeing an opportunity, Columbia Records’ (affiliated with the US entity) Taiwan director Shojiro Kashino asked Liu, who had
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