Theater troupes from Germany, France, Israel and South Korea, as well as two from Taiwan, have drawn inspiration from Athol Fugard, Bernard-Marie Koltes, Sophocles, and Ingmar Bergman and others for this year's International Theater Festival.
Ticket sales have been brisk for the event, which will be held at the National Experimental Theater (國家實驗劇場) from Monday through April 13: Gutes Tun and Sizwe Banzi Is Dead (directed by world-famous theater innovator Peter Brook) have already sold out.
Sizwe Banzi Is Dead, a play written by Athol Fugard, is a morality tale about apartheid in South Africa's townships that focuses on identity, survival and race.
PHOTO: COURTESY OF NTCH
In the production, Siswe Banzi adopts the identity of a dead man so he can find a job and escape the grinding poverty of the slums. One day he enters a photography studio where he is forced to confront the deeper meaning of his actions. The performance focuses on the cost of freedom and the power of art to transcend oppression.
Roberto Zucco, written by Bernard-Marie Koltes and adapted from the original by Taiwan-based theater group Creative Society (創作社), was inspired by a real-life killer.
Directed by Wang Jia-ming (王嘉明), the plot of the 15-scene play follows the last years of serial killer Roberto Zucco's life and the motives behind his killing spree.
Three actors play 20 nameless characters and pull the audience along in an avant-garde plot that follows Zucco's prison break and subsequent crime rampage. No specific protagonist is ever seen or heard in the play, which incorporates several viewpoints and uses constantly changing scenes strewn with monologues. Performances begin on March 13.
In Gutes Tin, two women intend to do good by providing people with what they desire most. Those who want buns shall have them. Stewed apples, no problem. However, these two are not very serious and spend most of their time in front of a cabin singing, joking and brawling. Though the characters might not bring happiness to the world, Tismer's snappy dialogue in this mad comedy is sure to keep audiences crying with laughter.
Comedy is not on Hana Snir's radar. The Israeli director working in with Habimah National Theater and Cameri Theater is staging an updated version of Sophocles' tragedy Antigone.
The story revolves around Antigone, who defies human laws in order to follow a higher one. She chooses to bury her fallen brother, though he has been declared an enemy of the state by her uncle and is ineligible for any funeral rites.
Snir's adaptation from a translation by Shimon Bouzaglo is interesting because it sound like breaking news.
In Woyzeck, a shattered wooden chair represents a soldier's life. Written by Georg Buchner just before his death at the age of 23, the play is a tragedy about love, betrayal, jealousy and murder.
In the hands of South Korea's Sadari Movement Laboratory, however, chairs take on an added dimension conjuring up physical contexts and revealing the inner states of the characters. A riveting musical score by Astor Piazzolla accompanies the production, which begins on April 4.
Off Performance Workshop's (外表坊) adaptation of Ingmar Bergman's Scener Ur Ett Aktenskap (Scenes From a Marriage), which begins on April 10, makes up the final performance of the festival. The Taiwan-based theater group uses a somber interpretation of Bergman's tale of the vicissitudes of marriage and its eventual breakdown.
Tickets for the International Theater Festival are NT$500 to NT$1,000. All performances will be held at the National Experimental Theater, Taipei. Tickets can be bought at www.artsticket.com.tw.
That US assistance was a model for Taiwan’s spectacular development success was early recognized by policymakers and analysts. In a report to the US Congress for the fiscal year 1962, former President John F. Kennedy noted Taiwan’s “rapid economic growth,” was “producing a substantial net gain in living.” Kennedy had a stake in Taiwan’s achievements and the US’ official development assistance (ODA) in general: In September 1961, his entreaty to make the 1960s a “decade of development,” and an accompanying proposal for dedicated legislation to this end, had been formalized by congressional passage of the Foreign Assistance Act. Two
Despite the intense sunshine, we were hardly breaking a sweat as we cruised along the flat, dedicated bike lane, well protected from the heat by a canopy of trees. The electric assist on the bikes likely made a difference, too. Far removed from the bustle and noise of the Taichung traffic, we admired the serene rural scenery, making our way over rivers, alongside rice paddies and through pear orchards. Our route for the day covered two bike paths that connect in Fengyuan District (豐原) and are best done together. The Hou-Feng Bike Path (后豐鐵馬道) runs southward from Houli District (后里) while the
March 31 to April 6 On May 13, 1950, National Taiwan University Hospital otolaryngologist Su You-peng (蘇友鵬) was summoned to the director’s office. He thought someone had complained about him practicing the violin at night, but when he entered the room, he knew something was terribly wrong. He saw several burly men who appeared to be government secret agents, and three other resident doctors: internist Hsu Chiang (許強), dermatologist Hu Pao-chen (胡寶珍) and ophthalmologist Hu Hsin-lin (胡鑫麟). They were handcuffed, herded onto two jeeps and taken to the Secrecy Bureau (保密局) for questioning. Su was still in his doctor’s robes at
Mirror mirror on the wall, what’s the fairest Disney live-action remake of them all? Wait, mirror. Hold on a second. Maybe choosing from the likes of Alice in Wonderland (2010), Mulan (2020) and The Lion King (2019) isn’t such a good idea. Mirror, on second thought, what’s on Netflix? Even the most devoted fans would have to acknowledge that these have not been the most illustrious illustrations of Disney magic. At their best (Pete’s Dragon? Cinderella?) they breathe life into old classics that could use a little updating. At their worst, well, blue Will Smith. Given the rapacious rate of remakes in modern
RSS