The National Taichung Theater is to present 11 productions from Taiwanese and foreign artists for its annual “Fall for Great Souls” series, the arts center said.
The series, which runs from Oct. 6 to Dec. 17, showcases productions that take lessons from classical works or reimagine classics through a modern-day perspective, theater general and artistic director Joyce Chiou (邱瑗) said.
The first month of the series is to feature three dance productions, including Nederlands Dans Theater 2’s collection of three pieces by Canadian, Romanian and Israeli choreographers on Oct. 6 and 7, Chiou said.
Photo: CNA
The Dutch dance group’s performances would be followed by Hofesh Shechter Co’s Double Murder — comprised of two pieces, Clowns and The Fix, which offer a contrast of violence and tenderness — from Oct. 27 to Oct. 29.
Taiwan’s Cloud Gate Dance Theatre is on Oct. 27 and 28 to perform Waves (波), a new production by artistic director Cheng Tsung-lung (鄭宗龍), who has been working with Japanese new media artist Daito Manabe to explore the use of artificial intelligence in choreography, it said.
In addition to the dance performances next month, the arts center is on Oct. 21 and 22 to host the locally produced Whale Island (鯨之?), a play based on Taiwan’s natural history.
On Nov. 4 and 5, veteran actress Tang Mei-yun (唐美雲) and her company are to perform a Taiwanese opera, which retells a heroic story set in China’s Three Kingdoms era, featuring the historic figure Zhuge Liang (諸葛亮) as the main character, the arts center said.
On Nov. 11, the theater is to host a concert by Germany’s Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, conducted by music director Andris Nelsons. They are to play two pieces by Richard Wagner, and Anton Bruckner’s Symphony No. 9 in D minor, the last symphony the Austrian composer wrote.
At the end of November, the theater would hold performances of Bros by Italian theater director Romeo Castellucci. It delves “into a captivating exploration of human nature’s dark side,” the arts center said.
A local production of R&J and Others, based on Romeo and Juliet, is to be staged in the center’s intimate black box theater, it said.
On Dec. 2 and 3, Taiwan’s Riverbed Theatre is to perform its 2021 production The Forgotten (被遺忘的), which is based on the death of 268 coal miners in northern Taiwan in 1984 as “a requiem for these forgotten laborers.”
Gang-a Tsui Theater and the Taipei-based Approaching Theatre are to perform Apostating Time (感謝公主), a mix of Nanguan and Peking opera on Dec. 9 and 10.
The series is to conclude with the arts center’s flagship opera production this year Cendrillon by French composer Jules Massenet, which was directed by Laurent Pelly and first staged at the Royal Opera House in London in 2011, it said.
Cendrillon is to be performed from Dec. 14 to Dec. 17.
Chiou said she hopes that audiences leave the theater contemplating the diverse issues presented through the 11 productions curated for the arts center’s signature series.
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