This year marks the 100th anniversary of the passing away of
Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen (1828-1906) and the Norwegian
Ministry of Cultural Affairs will commemorate 2006 as the "Ibsen
year" all over the world.
The Norwegian Embassy in Beijing will present the Ibsen year in
China. A series of events, including dramas, concerts and
exhibitions will be held to celebrate the works of the great
Norwegian writer.
"While Ibsen's dramas were written over 100 years ago, his
topics are still relevant today," said Tor Chr. Hildan, the
Norwegian ambassador to China.
Many people in China are familiar with Ibesen plays such as A
Doll's House.
"Ibsen has deep influence over the early Chinese modern drama
works as well as Chinese dramatists' knowledge of the function of
drama," said Wang Xiaoying, deputy president of the National
Theatre Company, who has both played the Ibsen character Peer Gynt
and directed Ibsen's play Ghosts. "Even the Chinese word for
modern drama huaju, came into being at a Chinese dramatists'
seminar in commemoration of Ibsen in 1928."
However, Wang pointed out that Ibsen's works staged in China
were mostly his social plays, and Chinese dramatists have paid less
attention to his later symbolic works.
Fortunately this will be remedied in June with the performance
of The Master Builder by Lin Zhaohua drama studio in
Beijing.
Lin will also collaborate with Norwegian director Jon Tombre to
put on Jesper Halle's Nora's Children in April. The play
explores Ibsen's most famous piece A Doll's House from the
children's point of view. This production was first staged in Oslo
in January 2005, and Lin will now bring it to the Chinese
audience.
The Ibsen year in China will present a wide range of activities,
many of them collaborations between Chinese and Norwegian
artists.
A concert of songs by Grieg based on Ibsen's poems, as well as
works by Mozart, Sjostakovitsj, J. Wieniawski and Plagge will be
held in Beijing on March 20 and in Shanghai on March 25. In May the
Ibsen Year will feature a special Ibsen concert in Beijing by
Norway's most famous musical group Secret Garden, Ibsen's classic
play An Enemy of the People staged by Nanjing University,
and the Ibsen Week at Fudan University in Shanghai.
In spring and fall this year, the Opera School of Shanghai
Theatre Academy will stage Peer Gynt in the style of Peking
Opera. In September, the National Theatre Company will host a drama
festival titled "Eternal Ibsen" in Beijing. Famous theatre
companies from all over the world will be invited.
The program of Ibsen Year in China will also include dance drama
The Hunt for Nora jointly by Norwegian and Chinese
performers, a female artists' exhibition dedicated to Ibsen's
female characters, and an international seminar on Ibsen.
(China Daily March 2, 2006)
