The Coy Hunchback Steals His Maternal Decree (作淫愁(下部)猶自羞駝男盜令), the latest work by Theatre Company of Lee Qing Zhao the Private (李清照私人劇團), will be staged at Treasure Hill Artist Village (寶藏巖國際藝術村) for six performances from Sunday through Oct. 28.
Written and directed by Liu Liang-yen (劉亮延), the play, a mix of sexual deviancy and tongue-in-cheek humor, blends Japanese avant-garde theater master Shuji Terayama’s The Hunchback of Aomori and Beijing opera classic Silang Visits His Mother (四郎探母) to investigate the psyche of a man who abandons his wife to find his mother, who welcomes him into her bed.
“It’s very typical of Terayama’s works, which are very dark and funny at the same time,” director Liu told the Taipei Times at a rehearsal on Tuesday.
Photo Courtesy of Theatre Company of Lee Qing Zhao the Private
The play features Japanese theater actor Yoshiaki Yamashita in the title role, Taiwanese actress Chien Yu-shan (錢宇珊) as a princess, director Liu himself as the hunchback’s mother, and Japanese actress Yuumi Sakakibara as a narrator.
The story follows the hunchback as he goes to war, is captured by the enemy and marries a princess of the enemy nation. Homesick, the hunchback steals an exit decree to return to his hometown. When the princess goes looking for her husband, she is shocked at what she discovers.
“Every man is looking for a mother,” Liu said with a winking smirk. “It’s such a hopeless thing.”
To realize his wicked sense of melodrama, Liu serves out an uncanny mixture of visual flair, irreverent humor, and a through-the-roof fun quotient complete with singing and dancing. All the actors perform in extravagant Japanese kimonos, and the play includes segments of Beijing opera songs and nihon buyo dancing. The Japanese and Taiwanese actors will each perform in their native languages, with Chinese subtitles.
The Coy Hunchback is part two of director Liu’s production Marie Educates Her Son at Virgin Flowers Falling (初飛花瑪莉訓子), which premiered in May and was nominated for a Taishin Arts Award (台新藝術獎).
The performance will be accompanied by a free show at 6pm: the solo dance Shreds and Trace (殘跡) on Sunday and Monday, and the monologue play Ciao, Ci Chao in Seven (七人曹七巧) from Tuesday to Oct. 28.
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