Curtain rises on new season at local theaters
Traditional Chinese theater is combined with modern aesthetics.
Wanping Theater and Changjiang Theater have launched their 2024 season which features more than 500 performances.
Throughout the year, both classics and experimental small-theater plays of traditional Chinese theater will be presented. Meanwhile, the theaters will offer diverse cultural exploration activities for audiences to experience the charm of traditional culture.
Peking Opera artists Shi Yihong and Fu Xiru will stage singing excerpts from Peking Opera classics such as"General and Premier Make Up."
The classic plays of Huju Opera, such as "Lu Yachen Sells His Wife" and "Meeting in the Buddhist Convent" will feature nearly 10 vocal schools of the art form, and the distinctive performing styles of several generations of artists.
The youth version of Yueju Opera "Stage Sisters" will be a new interpretation of the time-honored story about the destinies of two Yueju Opera performers. Xiju Opera "Pearl Pagoda" is a romance story of young scholar Fang Qing and Chen Cui'e, a woman who offers help to him at the most difficult time of his life.
Performing artists will present both classic plays and experimental works.
Costumes and props.
Diverse cultural activities are available for people to experience the charm of traditional Chinese culture.
Huaiju Opera "The Father and the Son" is a new version of the 1993 classic. It tells a story similar to an ancient Greek tragedy, in which the father and the son of two generations are embroiled in a series of grudges and fights due to the allure of imperial power.
Small-theater experimental plays are also a highlight of the season. Yueju Opera "If I'm Not Ji Kang" is a story about Ji Kang, a well-known scholar and musician in the Three Kingdoms period (AD 220-280).
The play reflects on the fate and life value of intellectuals through an avant-garde storyline that the protagonist has several options to change his tragic life.
Yueju Opera "Dongjun Gets Married" is a new effort of the traditional stage art to explore the contemporary aesthetics. It is an interesting and light-hearted fable drama that incorporates the abstract philosophy of love.
All these avant-garde stage productions combine traditional Chinese theater with modern aesthetics and expressions to cater for the young audiences of today.
Exquisite cultural products are displayed.
A musical instrument takes center stage.
