The premiere of Contemporary Legend Theater’s (當代傳奇劇場) revamped production of Medea (樓蘭女) on Thursday was packed with the great and the good of the art world, eager to see, or revisit, one of Taiwan’s most successful dramatic experiments. The show starred the two original leads from the 1993 production, with Beijing opera diva Wei Hai-min (魏海敏) in the title role and Contemporary Legend’s founder Wu Hsing-kuo (吳興國) as Jason, the man who betrays her.
Both put on strong performances, though Wei was noticeably struggling with her costume — designed by Tim Yip (葉錦添) for the 1993 production and now inextricably associated with the show — in one scene. Sound reproduction was also an issue, with one instance of the microphones cutting out. The problem had not been fixed by the second night, according to a friend who saw the performance on Friday, a fact that reflects badly on what is generally regarded as Taiwan’s foremost theater.
These technical problems aside, the production was undeniably spectacular, though it may be argued that Lin Keh-hua’s (林克華) new and extravagant set muted the effect of Yip’s costumes, which might have been more expressive against a starker background — a possible case of more is less.
The balance between the recorded music and the live singing might also have been altered in favor of the former, as Wei’s voice, powerful as it is, seemed sometimes to be almost overwhelmed. Her struggle, it seemed, was not primarily against her violent passions, but against a mixing board that wasn’t giving her the breaks.
For all the above nitpicking, the revival of Medea, with its startlingly original music by Hsu Po-yun (�?�) and stylized beauty of the actors, both individually and as elements within an organically conceived performance space, shows the wealth of potential that exists within Taiwanese theater.
Technology was also a major part of a much smaller production at the Experimental Theater this weekend. The Drought Goddess (大神魃) by the Ethan Chen Production House (野墨坊) had plenty of good ideas and excellent work contributed by musicians, animators, calligraphers, painters and performers. Its multimedia presentation outshone many more expensive and high-profile productions, and the way it managed to play with aspects of traditional theater was really quite impressive.
A tap-dance nanguan (南管) aria with pipa (�? and percussion was splendid to behold, and deserved applause — unfortunately, the audience had, by that time, been so numbed by the ponderous layering of technical effects and tortuously slow story development that they proved totally unable to respond.
The use of a made-up language combining various dialects was quite interesting for some of the musical effects it created, but after an hour or so, the device began to wear a bit thin. When the performers moved into traditional nanguan singing, it was not difficult to appreciate the musical sophistication of centuries of development over something that was first developed a couple of months ago.
In many aspects of presentation, The Drought Goddess punched well above its weight, but ultimately, lacking both a comprehensible structure and a strong directorial eye to keep things in their place, this grab-bag of good ideas dragged, sagged and spread out in all the wrong places.
Dancer/choreographer Lin Wen-chung (林文中) said in a recent interview with this paper that he wanted the debut of his self-named company WCdance to show “the whole world how good I am.” He more than amply proved his point on Thursday night at the Crown Theater, where he attracted an overflow crowd that packed the bleachers and crowded the floor in front to see the premiere of Small.
The action was almost entirely contained in a 3m-by-3m space marked out by six frames of Plexiglas linked to two L-shapes to almost form a cube. A white floor and back wall, with a mirrored panel angled overhead completed the box. Within such a confined space, every move, every twitch, every slide along the floor or wall spoke as loudly as the jackhammer sounds that opened the piece. I may never look at ant farms in quite the same way again.
Lin was generous to his four dancers — Lin Xiao-yuan (林筱圓), Wu Xin-ya (吳幸亞), Chiu Yu-wen (邱鈺雯) and Lee Guo-chi (李國治) — mixing and matching pairs, trios, quartets and quintets with a solo for each.
The one word that came to mind during and after the performance was “polished.” The choreography, the score, the set and the dancing were all highly polished. Lin began rehearsing the piece early last spring and the months of work clearly paid off, a lesson that could be learned by several of the more established troupes in Taipei.
In Taiwan’s politics the party chair is an extremely influential position. Typically this person is the presumed presidential candidate or serving president. In the last presidential election, two of the three candidates were also leaders of their party. Only one party chair race had been planned for this year, but with the Jan. 1 resignation by the currently indicted Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) of the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) two parties are now in play. If a challenger to acting Chairman Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) appears we will examine that race in more depth. Currently their election is set for Feb. 15. EXTREMELY
China’s military launched a record number of warplane incursions around Taiwan last year as it builds its ability to launch full-scale invasion, something a former chief of Taiwan’s armed forces said Beijing could be capable of within a decade. Analysts said China’s relentless harassment had taken a toll on Taiwan’s resources, but had failed to convince them to capitulate, largely because the threat of invasion was still an empty one, for now. Xi Jinping’s (習近平) determination to annex Taiwan under what the president terms “reunification” is no secret. He has publicly and stridently promised to bring it under Communist party (CCP) control,
Jan. 20 to Jan. 26 Taipei was in a jubilant, patriotic mood on the morning of Jan. 25, 1954. Flags hung outside shops and residences, people chanted anti-communist slogans and rousing music blared from loudspeakers. The occasion was the arrival of about 14,000 Chinese prisoners from the Korean War, who had elected to head to Taiwan instead of being repatriated to China. The majority landed in Keelung over three days and were paraded through the capital to great fanfare. Air Force planes dropped colorful flyers, one of which read, “You’re back, you’re finally back. You finally overcame the evil communist bandits and
They increasingly own everything from access to space to how we get news on Earth and now outgoing President Joe Biden warns America’s new breed of Donald Trump-allied oligarchs could gobble up US democracy itself. Biden used his farewell speech to the nation to deliver a shockingly dark message: that a nation which has always revered its entrepreneurs may now be at their mercy. “An oligarchy is taking shape in America of extreme wealth, power and influence that literally threatens our entire democracy, our basic rights and freedoms,” Biden said. He named no names, but his targets were clear: men like Elon Musk
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