German playwrights seem to be all the rage these days in Taipei theatrical circles. Last weekend it was the Contemporary Legend Theatre (當代傳奇劇場) with Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s monumental Faust, and this weekend Against Again Troupe (再拒劇團) offers a musical based on Frank Wedekind’s Fruhlings Erwachen (Spring Awakening, 春醒).
Against Again Troupe was founded in 2002 by a group of aspiring young theater workers who wanted to form a community to produce works that focused on society’s ills.
With Wedekind’s groundbreaking 1891 play, the group seems to have found the perfect vehicle.
Photo Courtesy of Against Again Troupe
The play, which explores the sexual repression of the 19th century Germany and youthful rebellion, was once banned because of its scenes of homoeroticism, rape and suicide. Today, howerver, it is considered a seminal work in modern theater.
In the US, Duncan Sheik and Steven Sater turned it into a rock and roll musical, Spring Awakening, which won eight Tony Awards, including Best Musical, in 2007.
Against Again Troupe’s musical, directed by Huang Yuan-wen (黃緣文) with Huang Si-nung (黃思農) and Chiang Tao (蔣韜) as the musical directors, opens tonight for five shows.
The show focuses on the relationships between Melchior and a naive girl, Wendla, who fall in love and are anxious and curious about their own bodies and sexuality, while their suicidal friend Moritz is struggling to live up to society’s expectations.
Given the subject matter, there is a parental discretion warning.
■ Tonight through Sunday at 7:30pm, tomorrow and Sunday at 2:30pm
■ Taipei City Government Family Theater (台北市政府親子劇場), 2F, Taipei City Hall, 1 Shifu Rd, Taipei City (台北市市府路1號2樓)
■ Tickets are NT$1,000 to NT$2,000 and are available at NTCH box offices and other ticketing outlets, online at www.artsticket.com.tw and at convenience store ticketing kiosks. Sunday’s matinee is almost sold out
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