A new, stripped-down version of "The Peony Pavilion" focuses on girl-meets-boy and the pursuit of passionate, forbidden love at a time of repressive Neo-Confucianism. Xu Wei reports.

If Kunqu Opera is the crown of traditional Chinese theater, then "The Peony Pavilion" ("Mudan Ting") is the jewel in the crown. No other play in traditional theater has retained its popularity for so long, 400 years, and been adapted into so many stage versions. Few are so beloved.

The play, often called China's "Romeo and Juliet," is far more than girl-meets-boy and love-conquers-all. First performed in 1598, a time of strict Neo-Confucianism and emphasis on outward ritual (Daoxue), it was highly controversial for celebrating emotion and romantic love (qing, also meaning sexual desire and passion) over rigid social convention. This love stretches into the imagination and the spiritual world.

It also was controversial at the time for its representation of women as individuals with passions, not economic commodities in arranged marriage. Women at the time saw their own lives depicted in the play.

The play has been the subject of academic study for many years.

Celebrating love

The original play by Tang Xianzu, a former Ming Dynasty (1644-1911) court official, contained 55 scenes and was performed over three to five days, involving very large casts. It became immensely popular because of its daring ideas, as well as erotic references.

Love will be celebrated, once again, in a new Kunqu Opera version of the play that focuses on the transcendent love story - there are ghost scenes and a resurrection - and strips away other aspects of the play. The cast and settings are minimal.

The two-and-a-half-hour version of powerful scenes will be staged on June 1-3 at the Shanghai Oriental Art Center. It contains some of the most beautiful verse and melodies in traditional theater, expressed with the famously elegant gestures of Kunqu Opera.

The play begins as 16-year-old Du Liniang, seemingly mild and compliant daughter of a wealthy feudal family, escapes from her strict, censorious tutor who makes her study traditional feminine virtue. She rushes outside and explores a garden where birds are singing. She is almost always confined to her quarters and the garden and natural world are off limits, lest she encounter a strange man.

Du falls asleep in the Peony Pavilion and in her dream falls passionately in love with a poor young scholar, Liu Mengmei, though she does not know his identity. In the dream their love is consummated (it's also consummated later in Liu's dream when Du returns as a ghost).

The play depicts her awakening to independence, sexual desire and enduring love forbidden by her family who plans to marry her off. She persists yearning for her dream lover and is wary of a loveless marriage, but she withers and dies when she believes love is lost. Before her death, she paints her self-portrait, an act of extreme personal expression in a period when emotions and individuality were sublimated.

The object of her love, Liu, has no idea he is beloved. When he happens to stay in the family home after Du's death, he falls passionately in love with her self-portrait and shares Du's desire to be united. The story is complicated, but Du spends three years as a spirit before the lord of the underworld intervenes, Du's body is disinterred, she is resurrected (love transcends death) and the lovers are eventually united.

Du's struggles resonated with many women in ancient China who felt similarly constrained and repressed. According to one legend, famous actress Shang Xiaoling was so deeply immersed in Du's character that she died in sorrow while performing "The Peony Pavilion."

In 1598, his own preface to the play, author Tang wrote of love:

"Love is of source unknown, yet it grows ever deeper. The living may die of it, by its power the dead live again. Love is not love at its fullest if one who lives is unwilling to die for it, or if it cannot restore to life one who has died. And must the love that comes in dream necessarily be unreal? For there is no lack of dream lovers in this world."

The play's poetic verse, melodious arias and elegant gestures have also made the play a favorite. It's replete with Oriental philosophical elements from Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism.

The new adaptation is aimed for a younger audience and directed by famed Taiwanese theater director Li Shao-ping, who is known for his avant-garde productions. Here, Li avoids elaborate production and stereotypical portrayal of the characters - Du becomes strong, not weak. He focuses on the love story and emotions and tries to draw the audience into the tale with as few performance techniques is possible.

Stage settings are simpler than usual, more abstract and compelling. Evocative ink-wash paintings backdrops. Costumes are embroidered with peonies in full bloom.

A giant circle hangs over the stage and rotates to reflect the mood changes of characters.

"In fact, the circle is a symbol of forbidden love, which many ancient Chinese women endured," director Li says.

The entire stage production is aesthetically appealing and intriguing.

Du will be played by Peking Opera star Shi Yihong, who like many Peking Opera performers, was required to learn Kunqu Opera, considered the "mother" of traditional Chinese operas.

Liu will be played by Zhang Jun, known as the "Prince of Kunqu Opera" and recently named a UNESCO Artist for Peace.

The production is a collaboration with Zhang, who has his own production company and has staged "The Peony Pavilion" eight times. He has staged the classic in a real garden in suburban Zhujiajiao water town, mingling New Age music, jazz, electronic music and rock and role with traditional scores. Zhang and composer Tan Dun also created a piano-flute ensemble for an experimental "The Peony Pavilion."

"The new version not only preserves the essence and sublime beauty of the script, but also offers performers more freedom to explore as well," Zhang says. "Our acting in this ancient love story fused with dreams and illusion is full of passion and feeling."

Zhang says the play is a reminder that people living in a fast-paced society should never lose the ability to love and dream.

In late November, Zhang will stage his 80-minute garden version of "The Peony Pavilion" in New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art in its Ming Dynasty-style garden court. That performance will launch a world tour.

Nine-hour marathon

Another nine-hour version of "The Peony Pavilion" will be staged over three days in November at the Shanghai Oriental Art Center. It toured the United States in 2006 and was proclaimed a success. It also toured Europe.

This version contains more fascinating detail from the original.

The script is the work of Taiwanese writer and scholar Pai Hsien-yung whose love of "The Peony Pavilion" began when he was nine years old. He remembers a performance at Shanghai's Majestic Theater starring masters Mei Lanfang and Yu Zhenfei.

He condenses the original 55-scene script to 27 scenes. Pai says it prompted the University of California at Berkeley to launch a comprehensive curriculum on Kunqu Opera. Even in London, the show received high praise from usually harsh critics.

Pai's successful overseas tours were considered major cultural events for Chinese academic circles and likened to master Mei's tour of the United States in 1930 when he introduced traditional Chinese opera to the world.

"The charm of this Kunqu classic lies in its romantic interpretation of love," Pai said in an earlier interview. "With universal appeal, the play is able to transcend the boundaries of time and space."

Martial arts and acrobatic fighting used to be virtually all that foreign audiences knew about traditional Chinese operas, but "The Peony Pavilion" has greatly expanded their understanding of sophisticated Chinese theater.

The play is considered the best work of author Tang, who is sometimes called the "Oriental Shakespeare," says theater expert and critic Chen Daming. "The two playwrights of the same period share many similarities, especially in the portrayal of humanity, the individual and personality," he says.

In both plays, human emotion defies stricture and convention.



? New Kunqu Opera "The Peony Pavilion"

Date: June 1-3, 7:15pm

Tickets: 80-680 yuan (US$12.76-108.45)

With English subtitles



? Nine-hour "The Peony Pavilion"

Date: November 23-25, 7:15pm

Tickets: 80-680 yuan

With English subtitles



Venue: Shanghai Oriental Art Center, 425 Dingxiang Rd, Pudong

Tel: 6854-1234