9th October 2024,
Walter Byongsok Chon
Adaptation, Festivals, Interview, Singapore
Report From The Underground: A New Iranian Theatre
For many Iranians, the contemporary history of the country is divided into before and after September 16, 2022, the day...
28th August 2024,
Xunnan Li
China, Chinese Theatre Abroad, Edinburgh 2024, Interview
How Padmavati Rao Embraces Life Through Theatre And Activism
Multifaceted in the true sense, Padmavati Rao approaches every character with humility and surrender to lend honesty to her craft.
I’m...
23rd June 2024,
Charumathi Supraja
Acting, India, Review
In 2024, National Theatre of China in Beijing showcased an experimental avant-garde theatre work “Apple Tree” to talk about the tension in the contemporary marriage between a young Chinese couple. Their tension in the marriage was reflected when the wife is suffering from the unexpected miscarriage.The play is such a transnational one. The director Feng was educated in France when he was young, with established exposure to the French film and theatre. In this play and his previous productions, there are huge amount of Roland’s style of using montage and space changing.
In 2024, National Theatre of China in Beijing showcased an experimental avant-garde theatre work “Apple Tree” to talk about the tension in the contemporary marriage between a young Chinese couple. Their tension in the marriage was reflected when the wife is suffering from the unexpected miscarriage.The play is such a transnational one. The director Feng was educated in France when he was young, with established exposure to the French film and theatre. In this play and his previous productions, there are huge amount of Roland’s style of using montage and space changing.
Adapted from Lu Xun’s novel, the play takes the same name, “Zhu Jian” (Forging the Swords), and has become one of the most popular productions at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2024. The work was brought to Edinburgh by a group of student actors from the Central Academy of Drama in China. Director Fengrui Yang is currently pursuing his doctoral training at the Academy. The play is notable for its re-examination of the theme of vengeance, a central idea in Lu Xun’s novel. Lu Xun is one of the most influential authors in modern China featured with his social criticism writing style in the 1920s.
UK-China Performing Arts (UKCPA), one of the UK’s most prominent Chinese performing arts organizations, plays a crucial role in bridging Chinese and British performing arts cultures. Joanna Hangyu Zhou, the founder of UKCPA and a former national-level dancer with a permanent position at China National Opera & Dance Drama Theater, has emerged as a leading international dance artist in the UK. Following her graduation with a master’s degree from the University of Roehampton in 2016, where she specialized in dance studies, Joanna embarked on a journey of exploring innovations in intercultural Chinese and British performing arts through artistic practice and education.
The simplicity of the set was enriched with exquisite lighting design, by Oliver Wason, depicting the starry heavens above, exploding bombs, flocks of butterflies, even projections of characters.
