A cultural programme themed "China -- Between Past and Future"
will commence on March 23 at the House of World Cultures in Berlin,
Germany. The one-month long program is the most significant
Sino-German cultural exchange in 20 years and is designed to
examine the development of new art forms and the talented
individuals involved in them. Among the areas included are the fine
arts, music, opera, photography and their relationship to China's
own fascinating traditions.
Traditional Chinese operas will be at the center of the program
which also features a number of exhibitions and symposiums. The
opera segment, entitled "Experimental China -- Cultural Memory" is
co-sponsored by the Shanghai Dramatic Arts Center, the House of
World Cultures and the Goethe Institute in Germany.
Experimental performances in five major Chinese opera genres
will be staged: the Peking Opera (Jingju), Kun Opera
(Kunqu), Qin Opera (Qinqiang), Sichuan Opera
(Chuanju) and Yue Opera (Yueju). Five renowned
artists -- Zhao Zhigang for Yue Opera; Taiwan's Wu Hsing-kuo for
Peking Opera; Tian Mansha for Sichuan Opera; Li Xiaofeng for Qin
Opera and Ke Jun for Kun Opera -- will present audiences with
premieres of their new works.
Zhao Zhigang, the "prince of Yue Opera," tells of the
development of an artist through his conflict with Jia Baoyu, the
hero in the famous Chinese historical novel A Dream of?Red
Mansions. Baoyu is a man born to an affluent family and lives
"in a world full of women," but ends up becoming a monk. The fate
of Baoyu symbolizes Zhao Zhigang's liberation from the constraints
of a theater form which has molded him but whose boundaries he has
reached beyond. Zhao is the only man who masters all five voice
categories of the Shanghai Yue Opera which are traditionally
performed by women only.
Wu Hsing-kuo, founder and director of the Contemporary Legend
Theater based in Taiwan, is regarded as one of the most important
theater artists in Asia. His grandiose solo Peking Opera adaptation
of William Shakespeare's King Lear explores the emotive
conflicts to which all humans fall heir. In this performance Wu
quite remarkably plays ten different roles. Artistically he employs
the traditional means of expression using props, acrobatics and
stylized battle techniques to give life to his characters in a
modern, fast-moving and highly emotional tale of changing
circumstances.
Tian Mansha's Qing Tan (Emotive Sigh) tells of
the true fate of a Sichuan Opera artist, whose personal life was
deeply affected by her profession. Tian Mansha -- a director,
performer and university lecturer -- is one of the most prominent
and influential theater artists in contemporary China. The premiere
of her piece Si Shui Wei Lan (Small Waves in Still
Water) was considered to be "a milestone in the history of the
revival of Chinese theater." In media interviews she said her
experimental pieces differed from the traditional work in that they
were created to explore a contemporary China which was undergoing
dramatic changes.
Dr. Bernd Scherer, director of the House of World Cultures, said
German audiences were very much looking forward to the traditional
Chinese operas which had survived many hundreds of years. He added
that China's operas had profound meaning and that some German
playwrights, including Bertolt Brecht, were in fact indebted to the
Peking Opera guru Mei Lanfang.
Yang Shaolin, general manager of the Shanghai Dramatic Arts
Center, said that after their premiere performances at the House of
World Cultures in Berlin the five artists would return to Shanghai
and start work on the "Experimental China -- Cultural Memory"
series in Asia between May 16 and 21.
(China.org.cn by Wind Gu March 17, 2006)