'Du Liniang and Juliet' mixes Oriental and Western theater
- By Zhang Rui
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Beautiful scenes during the perfomance of the cross-over drama "Du Liniang and Juliet," staged in Beijing on March 25, 2017. [China.org.cn] |
A cross-over drama "Du Liniang and Juliet" was staged in Beijing for the first time last Saturday night before a packed auditorium, winning much praise for the adaptation.
The drama, directed by Peking Opera master Sun Ping, also dean of the School of Arts of Beijing Foreign Studies University, was sponsored by the 2016 China National Arts Fund to mark the 400th anniversary of the death of Tang Xianzu, Chinese playwright of the Ming Dynasty, and his English counterpart William Shakespeare.
Peng Long, president of Beijing Foreign Studies University, said the bilingual drama was the latest exploration on ways to introduce China to the world and vice versa, hoping to promote international dialogue through the arts.
In July 2015, at the Forum on National Theater Arts Sun Ping proposed that, since 2016 was the 400th anniversary of death of two world-renowned dramatists, commemorative activities should be held all over the world. In October, President Xi Jinping, during his visit to the United Kingdom, stressed that the Chinese and British people should commemorate together the two literary giants and thus promote intercultural communication.
Subsequently, Sun received support from the China National Arts Fund to produce the cross-cultural drama. The hybrid play, adapted from the classics of "The Peony Pavilion" and "Romeo and Juliet," is an integration of Peking Opera, Kunqu Opera, ballet, traditional Chinese and modern Western dance and music, as well as other art elements, never before seen in China.
"From my personal experience, the basis for the success of 'crossover' theater, first, is to extract common 'form factors' from the Eastern and the Western theater, which I call the 'maximum common divisor.' Only then can we do a good job in the 'greatest common divisor', for we can mix different types of theaters into a whole. On this basis, audiences can gain new ideas of the ideological collision and see the fun of cultural communication."
She added, "As two classic characters of drama master Tang Xianzu and Shakespeare, Du Liniang and Juliet show the same affectionate, but different ways, of action to pursue eternal love. Behind their vigorous love story are the two writers' own understandings of the highest level of human feelings.
"Because of this, the encounter of Du Liniang and Juliet in fact is a dialogue between Tang and Shakespeare, and also a collision of Oriental and Western ideas and cultures."
The play, created by the School of Arts of Beijing Foreign Studies University and co-produced by the National Academy of Chinese Theater Arts, will now go on tour with more than 40 performances around China.
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