August 20, 2004
Shanghai Daily News (China)
On August 22 this year (the seventh day of the seventh month in the Chinese lunar calendar), Chinese celebrate the Qixi Festival, the Chinese equivalent of Valentines' Day. A Chinese occasion deserves a Chinese celebration, and chocolates and roses are too, well, Western. It was with this in mind that a group of young people in Shanghai started working on different way to celebrate a different Valentine's Day -- with a romantic Kunqu Opera play that they plan to develop into a series, in a bid to promote traditional Chinese culture among young people.
This year marks the 300th death anniversary of Hong Sheng, an eminent Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) playwright who wrote this play. He decided to stage an "unplugged'' performance because of an experience he had performing Kunqu Opera a cappella at a party held in a big warehouse. "My singing transcended that spacious warehouse, and was very unique, without no microphones nor bands,'' he explains. "Since then, I've had a wish to sing a capella in a play.'' A capella, of course, was the only way Kunqu Opera was performed originally, the days before electricity. "It also represents the pureness and elegance of Kunqu Opera,'' Zhang continues. "And the concert hall is an ideal venue to combine modern elements with classical Chinese culture.''
But the unplugged version also poses a challenge for performers. "With a microphone, I can take slack off sometimes with my singing,'' Zhang says. "The unplugged version is more demanding,'' adds Shen Yili who plays Lady Yang. "And we'll be in closer touch with the audience, which requires some readjustments for our performance, especially when it comes to facial expressions and eye contact.'' More
Posted by acapnews at August 20, 2004 8:27 AM
