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Play produced in city will travel to well-known venues in Germany
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A Hangzhou-produced play, “To Live,” adapted from the celebrated Chinese writer Yu Hua’s novel of the same name, will be staged at several renowned venues in Germany next year.
The play had its premiere last fall, and this summer it will start its tour in nine cities in China — including Hangzhou and Shanghai. In February, it will be shown at Deutsche Oper Berlin and The Thalia Theater in Hamburg.
Deutsche Oper Berlin, which opened in 1912, has Germany’s second largest opera house and also is home to the Berlin State Ballet. The state-owned Thalia Theater, founded in 1843, is home to one of Germany’s most famous ensembles and stages around nine new plays per season.
In Hamburg, the company will take part in the Lessing Festival as one of the few plays performed in a foreign language (with a German translation on LED screens).
“For actors, it is a great honor to perform in Deutsche Oper Berlin, just as the honor of a singer who sings in Vienna’s Golden Hall,” said the director Meng Jinghui, one of the leading experimental drama directors in China.
Yu’s novel “To Live,” published in 1993, describes the struggles endured by the son of a wealthy land owner when the “cultural revolution” (1966-76) fundamentally alters the nature of Chinese society.
The play follows the historical background but is modernized, having actors in present-day dress and using the technique of magical realism. The story’s structure and denouement are generally in accord with the original work.
The play, starring actor Huang Bo and actress Yuan Quan, has won plaudits from critics and audiences. The box office of the play’s first six shows in Beijing last year was 3.5 million yuan (US$570,750).
“I cannot stop crying when watching the play,” Yu said after watching the premiere in 2012.
“It is a great step,” the play’s producer, Ge Dali, said of the work. “Though some Westerners may still think all Chinese opera is traditional opera, we are going to change the stereotype.”
The play’s director, Meng Jinghui, said that he’s ready to stage a play based on another of Yu’s novels, “Chronicle of a Blood Merchant.” Meng runs a studio in Hangzhou’s Phoenix International Creative Park.
Date: August 9-11, 7:30pm
Venue: Hangzhou Grand Theater, 66 Zhijiang Rd E., Hangzhou
Tel: (0571) 8685-5118
Tickets: 200-1,080 yuan
Date: August 13-18, 7:30pm
Venue: Shanghai Art Theater, 466 Jiangning Rd, Shanghai
Tel: (021) 62151094
Tickets: 200-1,080 yuan
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