Since joining her Taiwanese husband’s gezai opera (歌仔戲) troupe in Chiayi County’s Taibao City (太保) 11 years ago, Juan An-ni (阮安妮), former lead trapeze artist at Vietnam’s National Circus Theater, has become a successful huadan (花旦) — lead female role — and the subject of an award-winning documentary, God’s Play (神戲).
Lai Li-chun (賴麗君), co-director of God’s Play, which in April won the Golden Harvest Award for Short Films, said that she saw Juan’s performance with the Sinlimei Theater Troupe (新麗美歌劇團) in Chiayi in 2013 and was surprised to find a 30-something Vietnamese engaged in an art that is predominantly performed by older artists.
Watching gezai opera at temples has been her favorite entertainment since her childhood, Lai said, adding that she had for many years wanted to make a documentary about Taiwanese opera.
Photo courtesy of Lai Li-chun
“Gezai opera is a traditional dramatic form that had fallen into neglect in Taiwan, where no one wants to perform it and no one wants to see it,” Lai said. “After talking to Juan, I realized that she had a dramatic life that should be told, and convinced Peng Chia-ju (彭家如) to co-direct the film with me.”
Lai said she spent three years making the film, documenting Juan’s marriage and training with the troupe while raising her children.
The documentary shows the hardships and joy that Taiwan’s new immigrants experience, Lai said, adding that she hopes that the documentary would be an encouragement for new immigrants trying to adapt to their new homeland.
Juan said that she was originally opposed to the project, but after realizing that the public needed to hear the voice of female immigrant spouses, she changed her mind and decided to work with Lai and Peng.
Juan said she was performing with the National Circus Theater in Chiayi 11 years ago when she caught the eye of the gezai troupe’s owner, Chang Chin-hu (張金湖), who recruited her into his troupe and introduced her to his son and her now-husband, Chang Fang-yuan (張芳遠).
Juan said that it took her many years to master Hoklo (commonly known as Taiwanese) and her roles until she was able to take the stage in 2008, the year her youngest daughter was born with a congenital condition that required dialysis.
“When we left home to work, we had to bring her with us; we were burning the candle at both ends,” she said.
Lai said that when they began shooting the film, only NT$200,000 (US$6,251) of the NT$3 million budget was available.
Peng had to make sacrifices to save money, for example by surviving solely on plain noodles, Lai said.
“Fortunately, donors and subsidies were found during filming, although the crew had to tough it out with the troupe traveling to many places and usually showering with cold water,” Lai said.
The Minghsiung Cultural Foundation is to host an open screening of God’s Play at 7pm today in Minsyong Township’s (民雄) Shanjhong Village (山中), where Lai was born, foundation president Cheng Chin-chen (鄭金鎮) said.
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