Known for his playful experiments with theatrical forms and languages, theater director Wang Jia-ming (王嘉明) teams up with songstress Cheer Chen (陳綺貞) and composer and music producer Chen Chien-chi (陳建騏) for his latest work Once, Upon Hearing the Skin Tone (膚色的時光), a mystery thriller musical about love and the atrocities and madness it entails.
For Wang, a sense of violence and death belies the seemingly sweet surface of Cheer Chen’s music, a contrast that he uses to comment on lovers’ passions and desires.
Wang uses a stage divided in half by a wooden wall as a device that obscures the actors behind it. This enables the director to exaggerate the work’s suspense and mystery.
Audience members sat on either side of the wall can only gather clues as to what is happening on the other side.
“The idea of creating a dual stage is closely related to the voyeuristic and possessive nature of love. We want to be an omniscient seer and know everything about our lovers, but that’s not possible,” said Wang. The format greatly increases the logistic complexity of coordinating actors, live projections and music.
The play begins with an optometrist taking the audience back to a scene in which he is murdered. Twelve performers, including many seasoned stage actors such as Fa, Betsy Lan
(藍貝芝) and Mo Zi-yi (莫子儀), traverse the play’s 40 settings, which include a clinic, food stall, gym, bar and Egyptian hotel.
Pieces of the plot fall into place as each character reveals his or her secrets and thoughts through murmurs, monologues and song.
In the skilled hands of Chen Chien-chi, Cheer Chen’s songs have been adapted to various styles ranging from Broadway, Indian ballads to a cappella numbers.
For those interested in seeing both sides of the story, ticket-holders can obtain a 25-percent discount for a second viewing.
That US assistance was a model for Taiwan’s spectacular development success was early recognized by policymakers and analysts. In a report to the US Congress for the fiscal year 1962, former President John F. Kennedy noted Taiwan’s “rapid economic growth,” was “producing a substantial net gain in living.” Kennedy had a stake in Taiwan’s achievements and the US’ official development assistance (ODA) in general: In September 1961, his entreaty to make the 1960s a “decade of development,” and an accompanying proposal for dedicated legislation to this end, had been formalized by congressional passage of the Foreign Assistance Act. Two
Despite the intense sunshine, we were hardly breaking a sweat as we cruised along the flat, dedicated bike lane, well protected from the heat by a canopy of trees. The electric assist on the bikes likely made a difference, too. Far removed from the bustle and noise of the Taichung traffic, we admired the serene rural scenery, making our way over rivers, alongside rice paddies and through pear orchards. Our route for the day covered two bike paths that connect in Fengyuan District (豐原) and are best done together. The Hou-Feng Bike Path (后豐鐵馬道) runs southward from Houli District (后里) while the
President William Lai’s (賴清德) March 13 national security speech marked a turning point. He signaled that the government was finally getting serious about a whole-of-society approach to defending the nation. The presidential office summarized his speech succinctly: “President Lai introduced 17 major strategies to respond to five major national security and united front threats Taiwan now faces: China’s threat to national sovereignty, its threats from infiltration and espionage activities targeting Taiwan’s military, its threats aimed at obscuring the national identity of the people of Taiwan, its threats from united front infiltration into Taiwanese society through cross-strait exchanges, and its threats from
March 31 to April 6 On May 13, 1950, National Taiwan University Hospital otolaryngologist Su You-peng (蘇友鵬) was summoned to the director’s office. He thought someone had complained about him practicing the violin at night, but when he entered the room, he knew something was terribly wrong. He saw several burly men who appeared to be government secret agents, and three other resident doctors: internist Hsu Chiang (許強), dermatologist Hu Pao-chen (胡寶珍) and ophthalmologist Hu Hsin-lin (胡鑫麟). They were handcuffed, herded onto two jeeps and taken to the Secrecy Bureau (保密局) for questioning. Su was still in his doctor’s robes at