Renowned theater director Lin Zhaohua says his chamber-edition
of The Peony Pavilion (Mudan Ting) will revive
the original performance form and elegance of Kunqu, the
traditional Chinese opera that originated in Kunshan of East
China's Jiangsu Province.
Lin Zhaohua aims to revive the original
performance form and elegance of Kunqu with his chamber-edition of
The Peony Pavilion.
Since this new production of The Peony Pavilion will be
put on at the Imperial Granary of Beijing, which has a capacity of
only 60 people, the audience will sit close enough to see every
subtle expression of the actors and hear the acoustics of all the
singing and instruments without the help of any microphone, just
like in the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644).
At the same time, Lin also assures that modern technique will
make the performance more alluring than its original form over four
centuries ago. For example, flower petals and rain will fall in the
room during the performance, to recreate the atmosphere of the
Jiangnan area (the area south to the Yangtze River, encompassing
Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces and Shanghai).
"We hope this work will bring the audience an aesthetic that is
both old and fresh," said Lin, artistic director of the
chamber-edition of The Peony Pavilion.
The play will debut on Friday, the 6th anniversary of UNESCO's
listing of Kunqu as a masterpiece of the oral and intangible
heritage of humanity. There will be 10 shows for the first round,
but the plan is to make it a constant performance.
"You watch Italian opera in Rome, kabuki in Kyoto, and you can't
miss Kunqu when you are in Beijing," claims the promotion
materials.
Starting from the late Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368) and early Ming
Dynasty, Kunqu Opera is one of the most ancient Chinese operas
still practiced. An integration of literature, drama, performance,
music, dance, and art, Kunqu Opera is considered a national
treasure and founder of all Chinese operas.
Written by Tang Xianzu (1550-1616), The Peony Pavilion
is the most popular play from the Ming Dynasty and a masterpiece of
Kunqu opera. Set in Lin'an, now Hangzhou of East China's Zhejiang
Province, it tells the story of two lovers.
Du Liniang is the daughter of an important official. Her maid
encourages her to abandon her dull studies and take a walk in the
garden, where she falls asleep.
She dreams of her lover Liu Mengmei, whom in real life she has
never met, before being awoken by falling petals. Unable to recover
the enchantment of her dream, she wastes away and dies.
In hell, the underworld judge determines that her marriage with
Liu was predestined, and that she cannot be retained. Instead, she
is sent to haunt him, who now inhabits the garden where they had
their dream. Recognizing the girl he had seen in his dreams, Liu
agrees to exhume her.
Du asks him to go to tell her father the news of her
resurrection, but Du's father treats Liu as a grave robber and
impostor. In the end, Liu is only saved from a tortuous death by
the announcement of the results of the imperial exams. He tops the
list; the emperor pardons all.
In this production of The Peony Pavilion, 19-year-old
Hu Zhexing from the Suzhou Kunqu School will play the heroine Du,
and 24-year-old Zeng Jie from the Suzhou Kunqu Theater will play
the hero Liu.
"The Peony Pavilion is a story of love, life and
death," said established Kunqu artist Wang Shiyu, director of the
production. "It is already 400 years old, and its value will be
permanent."
The full play of The Peony Pavilion will last more than
20 hours. The production at the Imperial Granary will be a
condensed version that contains some of the most important parts of
the play.
Hu Zhexing from the Suzhou Kunqu School plays
the heroine Du Liniang, and Zeng Jie from the Suzhou Kunqu Theater
plays the hero Liu Mengmei.???
"It's a perfect combination of tangible and intangible heritages
for the 600-year-old Kunqu performed at the 600-year-old Imperial
Granary," said Wang Xiang, CEO of the Polo Arts Company, which is
presenting the play.
The construction of the Imperial Granary started in 1409, 10
years earlier than the Forbidden City. With walls 1.5 meters thick
and 9.9 meters tall, this granary of the Ming and Qing (1368-1911)
dynasties has been adapted into a performance venue recently.
Since only 60 people will be admitted for every show, the
tickets will be higher than common performances, ranging from 580
yuan ($75) to 1980 yuan ($257), including a buffet before the
show.
"I expect the main audience to be people from the circles of
commerce and culture, as well as travelers," said Jiang Ling,
president of the China International Culture and Arts Company,
which is agent for The Peony Pavilion's tickets-selling.
"Individuals and groups will probably each make-up half of the
audience."
(China Daily May 17, 2007)
