The Integration of Traditional Chinese Opera with Modern Theatre

In 1986, a group of Beijing opera players, keenly aware of the decline of traditional Chinese opera, began serious contemplation on how to integrate traditional Chinese opera with modern theatre. Thanks to the efforts of WU Hsing-kuo, WEI Hai-min and other equally enthusiastic young Beijing opera players, the Contemporary Legend Theatre (CLT) was founded.

The CLT’s first play The Kingdom of Desire, adapted from Shakespeare’s tragedy Macbeth, sought to fuse the singing, acting, reciting, and acrobatic fighting of traditional Chinese opera with Western canons, and presented the performance in theatre form. The performance successfully subverted original preconceptions about Beijing opera held by the theatre audience, and created a completely new aesthetics of eastern theatre.

Since its founding, the CLT has been invited to perform in various locations throughout the world such as the Royal National Theatre, London (U.K.), the Festival d’Avignon (France), the Asian Performing Arts Festival, Tokyo (Japan), the 40th Anniversary of the Odin Theatre (Denmark), and the Lincoln Center Festival (U.S.A.).

A Fusion of Eastern and Western Theatre Arts

For years, domestic and overseas audiences have applauded the CLT’s performances including its adaptations of Shakespeare, such as The Kingdom of Desire (Macbeth), War and Eternity (Hamlet), King Lear, and The Tempest; adaptations of Greek tragedies such as Medea, Oresteia; the traditional play Yin Yang River; newly written plays such as The Last Days of Emperor Lee Yu, The Hidden Concubine, and an innovative hip hopera entitled A Play of Brother and Sister. In 2005, the CLT took on a new challenge by adapting Waiting for Godot, a play of the theatre of the absurd by Nobel laureate Samuel Beckett. This adaption is appreciated by Walter Asmus, expert of Beckett who believes that it decodes Beckett successfully, combining perfectly the beauty of theatre and poetry. Similarly, Ariane Mnouchkine, artistic director of the Théâtre du Soleil believes that this adaptation will leave its mark on the history of modern theatre.

108 Heroes – Tales from the Water Margin produced in October 2007 represented another attempt to integrate electronic music, rock, and Beijing opera for the audience. In The Butterfly Dream, presented at the National Theatre in December of the same year, the CLT sought to create a new operatic performing style by using traditional Kun tunes to produce a theatre performance which blended Chinese classical music with modern music. In 2009, the CLT drew on tradition with its performance of the masterpiece of Beijing opera, The Legendary Pear Garden. In October 2010, a new play The Golden Old Days, adapted from 14 novels by the prolific Russian writer Anton Chekhov, will be presented in Taipei. The new directions established for traditional Beijing opera and the fusion of oriental and occidental stages have become the guiding spirit and enduring feature of the Contemporary Legend Theatre.

A Brief Synopsis of The Legendary Pear Garden

SHI Chien Steals a Chicken

SHI Chien / LIN Chao-hsu

The play has been adapted from one of the four major classic novels in China entitled The Water Margin. YANG Hsiun and SHI Hsiu kill an adulterous monk and woman on the Emerald Screen Mountain. They meet SHI Chien on the road. The three decide to go to Liang Mountain. When they come to the CHU Family Store for food and accommodation, SHI Chien discovers that only liqueurs are available but no meat. He thus kills the store’s rooster crowing at the break of dawn and eats it. After the store owners discover what happened, SHI Chien feigns ignorance. He teases the store owner and has a fight with the storekeepers. In a turn of events, YANG Hsiun and SHI Chien are caught on the spot. SHI Hsiu, however, manages to escape.

SHI Hsiu Scouts the Manor

SHI Hsiu / DAI Li-wu

SHI Hsiu goes to Liang Mountain for help. SUNG Jiang decides to fight against the CHU Manor. He sends SHI Hsiu and YANG Lin to conduct military spying in the CHU Manor. SHI Hsiu, disguised as a woodcutter, meets Old CHUNG-LI.  By pretending to request accommodation, he steals the white feathers used to mark the village boundary. At that point YANG Lin gets caught. While attacking the front of the CHU Manor, Sung Jiang is caught in ambush. SHI Hsiu guides him out of the tight encirclement.

Alone on a Sandbank

FAN Zhong-yu / WU Hsing-kuo

Woodcutter / LIN Chao-hsu

Scholar FAN Zhong-yu searches for his missing wife and son on a bleak mountain. Filled with melancholy, sorrow and desperation, he is completely incognizant of the fact that he has won the first place in the imperial examinations. Nor does he realize that the royal banquet is anticipating him. From the woodcutter, he learns that his wife has been kidnapped and taken to the GER family. He enters the GER family and becomes intoxicated. The head of the RM 35-01 Clone GER household sends an assassin to kill him. Fortunately, Malignant God opts to protect him and kills the assassin. The following day, GER the retired prime minister orders a servant to beat FAN Chung-yu to death. They plan to put FAN into a box and carry him to a suburban area for disposal. At that time, two government officers who cannot find the whereabouts of the first-score examiner run out of money. They chase the servants of the GER family away, and try to search for precious items in the box. Unexpectedly, a person jumps out of the box. FAN Zhong-yu, bleeding and unconscious, delivers a mouthful of nonsense. He mistakes the government officers for his wife and son. Later, he insists that the government officers are vicious people who are plotting against him. In a stroke of madness, FAN Zhong-yu thinks that the Star of Wisdom has invited him to become the Emperor of Heaven. He laughs deliriously and disappears into the forest.