Three years after the Royal National Theatre's performances of "Othello" delighted Chinese audiences, British drama is scheduled to arrive again, this time with Shared Experience Theatre.
Sponsored by the China International Culture Exchange Center and the Cultural and Education Section of the British Embassy, the UK's Shared Experience Theatre will perform their award-winning play "Mill on the Floss" at the Children's Theatre of Beijing from June 20 to 22, and at the Central Theatre of Shanghai from June 27 to 29.
Adapted from the George Eliot (1819-80) novel of the same name, "Mill on the Floss" is about a young girl's struggle towards love and self-knowledge.
Wild, untamable Maggie Tulliver and her earnest older brother Tom are inseparable companions as they grow up by the river Floss.
Tom's education takes him away from Maggie, but throughout her life she strives to maintain her bond with him. Their relationship is strained to the breaking point as Maggie struggles to reconcile her eager yearning for a life of culture and education with her family's understanding of the proper role for a young woman in rural 1830's England.
Maggie is passionately curious, outspoken and emotional, yet her need for approval leads to an adolescence dominated by attempts at religious self-denial.
But Maggie's true nature is endlessly threatening to erupt. When she meets the passionate young man who loves her for her mind, wit and sensuality, she is powerless to resist.
Later rejected by her brother Tom, she renews her attempts to lead a pious life.
As Maggie see-saws, the river Floss bursts its banks, sweeping brother and sister to their fate.
"I read the novel 20 years ago when I began to study English, and I was deeply moved," said Shen Lin, a professor from the Central Academy of Drama. "I am eager to see the interpretation of it by the Shared Experience Theatre."
One of the greatest examples of Victorian literature, "Mill on the Floss" could also be the story of George Eliot, whose real name was Mary Ann Evans.
Like the Bronte sisters, she used a pen name to get her work published.
Though Eliot was not a feminist writer, her work, especially "Mill on the Floss" and "Middlemarch," emphasized the lack of education and opportunities among the women of her time.
Most in the Chinese audience will have to appreciate the play through reading the Chinese subtitles, but the Shared Experience Theatre, which is well-known for a performance style that blends physical and text-based theatre, expects to break the language barrier.
Founded in 1975 by Mike Alfreds, the theatre has maintained the core philosophy that each and every performance is a "shared experience" between actor and audience and that each production is a genuinely collaborative effort.
Alfreds shared his experience with Chinese dramatists and students before, when he visited the Central Academy of Drama in 1993.
For 26 years, the group has adapted classic works of literature such as "Anna Karenina" and "Jane Eyre" into compelling, moving theatre.
In 1987, Nancy Meckler became the theatre's artistic director.
Meckler, director Polly Tealeand and writer Helen Edmundson evolved a style of narrative in which the inner lives of those on stage is made palpably physical.
They bring this unique collaboration to Eliot's novel, exploring the wild and clever Maggie Tulliver's struggles against the suffocating restrictions of Victorian society.
Shared Experience has performed "Mill on the Floss" in two seasons in London - one in 1995 and one in early 2001 - and has toured with it internationally. Before coming to China the group toured the United States. In both seasons, the play received rave reviews.
The Daily Telegraph described the performance as "a stunning night, which combines a wonderful theatrical imagination with a depth charge of raw emotion."
The Today said: "Prepare to be astonished, thrilled and deeply moved by Shared Experience - there is no finer production in town."
Three different actresses play Maggie Tulliver in the play as she makes her journey from willful child to mature woman. The three not only play Maggie at different ages but also represent the heroine's different egos. They often appear together on the stage and struggle with each other as if to indicate the inner conflicts that tear Maggie in painful directions.
"The company creates theatre that takes audiences well beyond everyday life, emphasizing the physicality of the performers with startling imagery and an innovative use of props and set," said Michael O'Sullivan, director of British Council China. "The results are magical."
(China Daily 06/18/2001)
