Following hard on the heels of the Beijing opera version of The Wilderness (原野) by Taipei Li-Yuan Peking Opera Theater (台北新劇團) at Novel Hall (新舞臺) earlier this month, another version of the same work is being staged at the same venue, this time as a dramatic production by Tianjin Renmin Yishu Juyuan (天津人民藝術劇院).
The Wilderness is widely regarded as Cao Yu’s (曹禺) most complex and controversial work. Written in the late 1930s, no definitive version of the play was produced, the final stages of writing interrupted by Japan’s invasion of China in 1937. This has allowed directors considerable leeway to find their own interpretations, and the play has been adapted many times in many different mediums.
The adaptation by the Tianjin Renmin Yishu Juyuan, which premiered in 2006, has toured China with great success. Cao, as “China’s greatest modern playwright,” is sometimes acclaimed as Asia’s Shakespeare, and his works are given the same kind of canonical adulation. While the Tianjin production claims to be utterly faithful to the spirit of the original, the producers have taken a hatchet to the original play, cutting the text down from 80,000 words to just 30,000 and incorporating modern elements such as huge puppets that serve as a Greek chorus to the action, as well as occasionally doubling as elements within the set. A cellist performs sections from Mozart’s Requiem throughout.
In The Wilderness, Cao was moving away from the social realism that had dominated his earlier works such as Thunderstorm (雷雨) and Sunrise (日出), and he had begun to dabble in expressionism and symbolism. While this departure was not popular with audiences in early productions of the work, the dilution of the rather tub-thumping socialist polemic with a deeper exploration of human nature makes The Wilderness probably Cao’s most accessible work for modern audiences.
The Novel Hall does not often host foreign dramatic productions, but according to Vivien Ku (辜懷群), executive director of the Koo Foundation (辜公亮文教基金會), which operates the venue, the opportunity of juxtaposing two very different productions of the same work was too good to resist.
Cao’s works, with their roots in China’s socialist revolution, and with his own elevation to the position of literary doyen of the Communist establishment, were once banned in Taiwan. Now it is more a question of whether they have any relevance. In the case of The Wilderness, with its vast potential for re-interpretation, there is clearly much a director can do to bring a piece of China’s literary history into the 21st century.
The Tianjin Renmin Yishu Juyuan has condensed the involved melodrama of the original into something with a clearer focus. They have boiled it down and brought out the expressionist elements that Cao was still struggling to find in the 1930s. Given that drama is somewhat under-represented in the growing wave of cross-strait cultural exchanges, this is a valuable opportunity to see a first-class drama group dealing with the baggage of history.
Jason Han says that the e-arrival card spat between South Korea and Taiwan shows that Seoul is signaling adherence to its “one-China” policy, while Taiwan’s response reflects a reciprocal approach. “Attempts to alter the diplomatic status quo often lead to tit-for-tat responses,” the analyst on international affairs tells the Taipei Times, adding that Taiwan may become more cautious in its dealings with South Korea going forward. Taipei has called on Seoul to correct its electronic entry system, which currently lists Taiwan as “China (Taiwan),” warning that reciprocal measures may follow if the wording is not changed before March 31. As of yesterday,
The Portuguese never established a presence on Taiwan, but they must have traded with the indigenous people because later traders reported that the locals referred to parts of deer using Portuguese words. What goods might the Portuguese have offered their indigenous trade partners? Among them must have been slaves, for the Portuguese dealt slaves across Asia. Though we often speak of “Portuguese” ships, imagining them as picturesque vessels manned by pointy-bearded Iberians, in Asia Portuguese shipping between local destinations was crewed by Asian seamen, with a handful of white or Eurasian officers. “Even the great carracks of 1,000-2,000 tons which plied
On Thursday, former Taipei mayor and founder of the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) was sentenced to 17 years in prison and had his civil rights suspended for six years over corruption, embezzlement and other charges. Seven others related to the case were also handed prison sentences, while two were found not guilty. It has been a bad week for the TPP. On Tuesday, prosecutors charged Chinese immigrant Xu Chunying (徐春鶯) with suspicion of taking part in Beijing-directed election interference. Xu has strong links to the TPP, which once offered her a party list legislator nomination. Tuesday also
Nuclear power is getting a second look in Southeast Asia as countries prepare to meet surging energy demand as they vie for artificial intelligence-focused data centers. Several Southeast Asian nations are reviving mothballed nuclear plans and setting ambitious targets and nearly half of the region could, if they pursue those goals, have nuclear energy in the 2030s. Even countries without current plans have signaled their interest. Southeast Asia has never produced a single watt of nuclear energy, despite long-held atomic ambitions. But that may soon change as pressure mounts to reduce emissions that contribute to climate change, while meeting growing power needs. The
RSS