Everlasting love story
Contemporary Kunqu Opera production of Peony Pavilion remains true to the play’s essence, Zhang Kun reports.
SMaybe countless young scholars had dreamed of meeting the beautiful Du beneath the blooming plum tree … Only this last young man had complete faith in love and left behind all concerns about the barrier between life and death.”
hanghai Grand Theater will premiere a Kunqu Opera production of Peony Pavilion on Aug 10. Created by Tang Xianzu (1550-1616) over 400 years ago, the play is one of the most popular theater classics in China and has been frequently performed around the world. The new production is the first major project by Shanghai Grand Theater after it was forced to close for about three months earlier this year, due to the pandemic.
The production also marks the introduction of a new eastern stage aesthetics series at the grand theater.
Featuring a new adaptation by playwright Luo Zhou, and two award-winning Kunqu artists Zhang Jun and Shan Wen in the leading roles, the production will be different from all previous interpretations, notes Zhang Xiaoding, the theater’s general manager.
“Over the past 20 years, many productions of Peony Pavilion have been shown at our theater by generations of established opera artists from all over the country. Shanghai Grand Theater has always put an emphasis on traditional Chinese culture,” says Zhang Xiaoding.
“In 2019, we produced the original Kunqu Opera Six Chapters of a Floating Life, winning wide acclaim. We hope to extract the essence of traditional Chinese art and combine it with contemporary expressions to create cross-disciplinary productions that will enrich people’s aesthetic experiences and leave fresh impressions of traditional Chinese culture.”
The story of Peony Pavilion, also known as The Return of Soul at the Peony Pavilion, revolves around Du Liniang, a 16-year-old who falls in love with a young scholar named Liu Mengmei in her dream before eventually dying from lovesickness.
When Liu visits the garden that Du used to frequent, he falls in love with her after seeing her portrait. She shows up in his dream. Miraculously, Du then comes back to life and Liu proves his worth in front of Du’s father by excelling at the imperial examination.
The original play by Tang consists of 55 scenes that can take several days to perform.
The two leading actors, 48-yearold Zhang Jun from Shanghai and 33-year-old Shan from Nanjing, East China’s Jiangsu province, have both performed Peony Pavilion hundreds of times before.
Shan won the gold award of the 29th Plum Performance Award, China’s top award for theater and opera performances, for her portrayal of Du in 2019, while Zhang Jun produced China’s first immersive Kunqu Opera production of Peony Pavilion, which was performed in a vintage garden in suburban Shanghai’s Zhujiajiao town for more than 10 years.
This is the first time the two artists are co-starring in a production. Zhang Jun praised Luo’s adaptation of the classic opera, comparing its structure to the 2010 blockbuster movie Inception by British-American director Christopher Nolan.
“I am so trapped in this dreamwithin-the-dream narrative of Luo that it has inspired wild ideas in my mind. I can’t help but wonder, is it me performing a Kunqu Opera, or is Kunqu Opera interpreting my life?” says the actor.
In her interpretation of the play, Luo says she believes it was Du who lured Liu into her world before making him fall passionately in love with her.
“I even thought maybe Liu was not the first young scholar she came across,” Luo writes in the notes for her adaptation. “Maybe countless young scholars had dreamed of meeting the beautiful Du beneath the blooming plum tree, which was actually the cry for help of a trapped soul in the grave.
“None of them succeeded, maybe because they were terrified of the ghost, or afraid to break the rules. Only this last young man had complete faith in love and left behind all concerns about the barrier between life and death.
“This unwavering love was the ray of light that broke the endless night, and brought relief to her undead soul, which had been trapped in the endless cycle searching for love.”
Luo Huaizhen, a renowned playwright and vice-chairman of the Shanghai Dramatists Association, praised
Luo Zhou’s adaptation of Peony Pavilion.
“Most previous adaptations just cut the play short, but in Luo Zhou’s edition, I found the interpretation of a contemporary playwright. She has found a new expression different from all others.”
He praises the director of the production, Ma Junfeng, whose previous creations include Kunqu Opera production Six Chapters of a Floating Life, and Blossoms, a modern play adapted from the novel of the same title by Jin Yucheng.
“Many of us are used to the old values, and often turn a blind eye to the new sprouts of life. Ma is different,” Luo Huaizhen says. He describes Ma as a director with a natural sensitivity to classic art.
Luo Huaizhen points out that, compared to traditional Chinesestyle theaters, the venue of Shanghai Grand Theater, which was built to host symphonies, Western operas and ballet, is a more appropriate stage for today’s Kunqu Opera productions. He explains that modern theaters designs, such as that of this theater, can amplify theatrical effects and draw audiences closer to the performance, thus initiating a more intimate interaction between audiences and the performers.
Luo Zhou, playwright