China contemporary drama goes abroad
Liu Xia, executive producer of the new stage show “The Tune of Water,” admits to feelings of trepidation before setting off for this year’s Avignon Festival in France.
The show, inspired by the Miao ethnic minority music of Hunan Province, features songs passed down for generations, a piano trio created from the songs, kung fu and calligraphy. Its theme is life and growth through the symbol of water.
The production team made major adjustments to the 2018 show for its international debut, changing choreography and adding more sub-elements to the stage.
Liu was much relieved as feedback from the international audience came in. It showed foreigners were in tune with the creative intention of the show.
“The most frequent phrase used by audiences was ‘poetic beauty,’” Liu told Shanghai Daily. “They felt it was a very contemporary stage though it is a Chinese story that we wanted to tell.”
She added: “It is a new production presented to a culturally rich crowd in Avignon who have seen everything from around the world. We were nervous, but the feedback shows that we were on the right track in connecting emotionally with the audience, no matter what stories you are telling or what format you use to present them.”
The show was among two new productions of the Shanghai Concert Hall that received international exposure this summer.
To be sure, Chinese productions have been going abroad for years. Initially, they were largely traditional shows of Peking Opera, kung fu performances, acrobatics and traditional dances, amidst other classical and very Chinese works.
Increasingly, more contemporary works are journeying abroad.
The creative team of “The Tune of Water” tried to use visual symbols to connect with foreign audiences, common objects such as water and paper.
“The entire show is inspired by songs that Miao people sing to the water when they send off someone close,” Liu explained. “Water flows throughout the country, and they hope their emotions will be carried by water.”
She added: “It’s a very ancient tradition but also very contemporary when you think about it. We have so many people leaving hometowns to settle in big cities. They face issues of self-identity and making peace with themselves. These are the issues many Chinese feel today, and they are also emotional feelings that many others around the world share.”
Emotional connection was also the key to success when Ye Fei, the concert hall’s vice president and producer of the musical “The Twilight of Springtime,” took that 2017 new production for its international debut in South Korea this summer.
“People usually associate the Shanghai Concert Hall with classical music,” Ye explained.
“We are proud of that and will continue in that sphere, but at the same time, we also want to show real life in China through music-oriented productions.”
The historic concert hall is undergoing a face-lift ahead of its 90th birthday next year, but that hasn’t stopped creative work.
“The Twilight of Springtime” is a coming-of-age musical that follows the interwoven stories of four young people against the backdrop of Shanghai’s rapid development. The four childhood friends, like many in the city, came to Shanghai to go to university and settled there.
In a stage setting of familiar buildings and areas of Shanghai, the four experience emotions common to many young people: college examinations, homesickness, a feeling of displacement, love and jealousy.
Ye didn’t suffer any qualms about taking the production abroad.
“The musical, by its nature, is more entertaining than some other stage forms, and more likely to be well received by audiences overseas,” he explained.
“We used to have only imported musicals in
Shanghai, but now so many original musicals are coming to stage, and actors and actresses are getting more attention and bigger fan bases.”
He added: “We are still at a starting point in terms of musicals. You see a lot of Chinese musicals telling stories inspired by real life. Local audiences love them, and our tour in South Korea showed that foreign audiences love them, too.”
Some adjustments were made for the tour.
For example, Ye changed the poetic Chinese title to a more straightforward “Youth” for the South Korean staging. Subtitles were adjusted to dovetail better with Korean terms.
“But after all, it was the down-to-earth stories and the authentic emotions in these stories that touched overseas audiences,” Ye said, noting that the college exam sub-plot was especially popular because exams are also a big topic in South Korea.
“We will continue to do productions that reflect real life in China and can inspire empathy from audiences all around the world,” he said.