Cherry-Picked Xiqu Classics for Contemporary Audiences

Description

This mixed excerpt show features some of the less familiar regional variations of the more than 300 forms of Chinese traditional theatre which are still practised today.

Winner of the Plum Blossom Award for Chinese Theatre, Du Huan, partners with Long Hong, another award recipient, to present “Tang Er Tests His Wife” – an excerpt from a Gannan tea-picking opera from Jiangxi.

In “Fortune-telling”, actress Xiao Ya, well-known for her elegant acting, performs the traditional Yueju piece from Zhejiang about a scholar who rescues his ravishing wife from a tyrant during the reign of the Ming emperor Jiajing.

Zeng Zhaojiang presents “Reunited at the Rice Distribution” – an excerpt of Pingju, which originated in Hebei and combines influences from Peking opera, shadow puppetry and other regional theatrical and musical styles.

Li Jianshu offers a lively, rhythmic Yuju excerpt from Henan entitled “The Lost Son” from The Breezy Pavilion, a heart-wrenching piece that depicts how an adopted son reconciles with his mother who is forced to abandon him.

Fang Lüjiang, the first performer of Ouju to receive a Plum Blossom Award, presents the famous piece “The Broken Bridge” from The Legend of the White Snake, which showcases the archaic and multi-layered operatic form from southern Zhejiang.

Please note that the performance, which will be conducted in regional languages, will be supplemented with English subtitles.