Last month, when U-Theatre (優劇場), Taiwan's Zen drumming group returned to the Laoquanshan (老泉山) compound after a two-year absence due to renovations, it celebrated with a "mountain festival." Being back on the mountain, which has been the troupe's home for 15 years, led U-Theater founder-director Liu Ruo-yu (劉若瑀) and drumming director Huang Chih-chun (黃誌群) to think about doing a performance about and for the mountain.
"Ten years ago we did Sound of Ocean, but we didn't talk about the sounds of our own mountain. This work is about 'our mountain,'" Liu said in a recent interview with the Taipei Times at the teashop on the ground floor of the National Concert Hall.
She said the group began thinking about the new work early this year, although she was busy with another project at the time.
PHOTO: COURTESY OF U-THEATRE
"I was working on A Touch of Zen [which was performed at the National Theater in May] and Huang started to think about the mountain ... . Right away he had a very strong, very special feeling ... especially about the fog that comes in at night," Liu said.
"For example, in 1999 we did Sound of Ocean on the mountain and during one performance there was a moment when the fog rolled in and the actors were waist deep in it. It was a really beautiful moment," she said. "So the title comes from a poetic way of describing fog - shan lan (山嵐)."
As is often the case with U-Theatre pieces, Mountain Dawn (入夜山嵐) is based on Huang's poetry.
"He wrote a poem about the night fog and then he started to write poems about the other parts, like listening to the bamboo when the wind blows around it," Liu said. "For this part [the bamboo], we use gongs, 13 huge gongs. We use women to do this part because we think the mountain is the mother, more solid, more grounded ... . We do some movement, slow like taichi to turn and strike the gong."
The troupe's female members are taking a more central role in this production.
"For Sound of Ocean and Meeting with Vajrasattva, it's all about the men … all about strength. So we do this part for the women," Liu said with a laugh.
"Five women on the inside, men on the outside," she said. "And we asked the men to do the small drums this time."
The show is divided into five parts that reflect a day in the life of the mountain, the changes to the scenery and environment wrought as the day progresses.
Mountain Dawn begins, of course, with the dawn, when the mountain comes alive.
"This part is all drums … but it's different, it's happier, more conversational. The drummers are talking to one another … just like things [creatures] do at sunrise," Liu said. The second piece is the bamboo segment, the third is about a big rainstorm, the fourth is about sunsets and is a solo by Huang and then the finale is about the night mist.
U-Theatre has invited five guest musicians play: a flautist, a reed pipe player, an erhu player, as well as a musicians to play the chimes and a cellist.
There will be four nighttime performances of Mountain Dawn, starting on Thursday, Dec. 13. Given the time of year and the outdoor venue, audience members should bundle up. It would also help to bring flashlights, as the path to the compound from the road is little more than a trail and the lighting is sparse. One of the great joys of last November's mountain festival was watching the members of U-Theatre's youth group perform with their adult counterparts.
The youth group - and its young fans - has not been forgotten this year. But for the first time it will be performing alone. The Saturday and Sunday matinees, at 2:30pm on Dec. 15 and Dec. 16, will be all about the kids.
There are 13 youngsters in the group, including Liu and Huang's son. Seven of them have been in the U-Theatre's youth training program since the project was launched five years ago. Three of them are now in high school, attending a special program at the school behind the company's Muxin Road center in the morning and on the mountain in the afternoon for music and performance training. One of the group's members is in elementary school and the rest are junior-high school students.
For the matinees, the youth group will be performing one selection from Sound of the Ocean, one from Meeting with Vajrasattva and one new percussion piece created especially for them.
The U-Theatre mountain compound is hard to find and parking is limited, so the company has once again organized shuttle buses to take people to and from two MRT stations for NT$100 per person round trip. There will be signs at the Qizhang and Muzha Zoo stations to indicate where you can catch the shuttle buses.
U-Theatre wants people to enjoy "their" mountain for itself and not just the performances, so attendees are encouraged to arrive early. The shuttle buses will run every 20 minutes between 5pm and 7pm for the evening performances and between noon and 2pm for the afternoon matinees.
While the U-Theatre performances are still two weeks away, you can see some of the troupe members performing this weekend at the company's Muxin Road center, under the "U2" auspices.
Liu and Huang want to encourage company members to pursue their own artistic interests, so each year one or more members create their own U2 program.
This year Aboa (伊苞), who belongs to the Paiwan Aboriginal group, has taken a turn. She was inspired by the life story of senior troupe member Syau-miu (秀妹), who is a Taipei-born Amis, and the culture clashes and identity crisis that members of ethnic minorities face in Taiwan.
Iboa said she understood the pressures faced by Syau miu.
"Her house had no running water, no electricity; she had family members who drank too much," Iboa said. "She went back to the tribe in Hualien, where her grandmother was a priestess-ceremony leader, but she didn't really feel she belonged there either."
The stories are told through a mixture of song, dance and drumming, building up each story layer by layer.
"Her story isn't my story, but I have many family members who are going through the same struggle as hers," Ibao said.
The U2 performances are tonight and tomorrow night at 7:30pm and matinees at 2:30pm tomorrow and Sunday.
Performance notes:
What: Mountain Dawn (入夜山嵐) by U-Theatre
Where: U-Theatre Mountain Theater (優人劇場山上劇場), 30, Ln 26, Laoquan St, Muzha, Taipei City (台北市老泉街26巷30號)
When: Thursday, Dec. 13 to Sunday, Dec. 16 at 7:30pm. The youth group's performances are Saturday, Dec. 15 and Sunday, Dec. 16 at 2pm.
Tickets: NT$600 and NT$900, available online at www.artsticket.com.tw or by calling (02) 2938-8138
Additional information:
U2 performances are tonight and tomorrow at 7:30pm with matinees tomorrow and Sunday at 2:30pm. At the Muxin Road U-Theatre Center, 5F, 156-1 Muxin Rd Sec 2, Taipei City, behind the Wellcome supermarket (表演３６房５樓劇場工作房 台北市木新路二段１５６-１號頂好超市樓上)
Tickets: NT$400, available online at www.artsticket.com.tw or by calling (02) 2938-8138
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