Director: Wu Danni
Playwright: Zhao Shuaidian, Zhang Youtian
Institution: National Academy of Chinese Theatre Arts, China
Venue: Experimental Theatre
Time: 19:30-20:30, May 22, 2014
Event: The 1st World Theatre Education Convention with 3rd Asian Theatre Schools Festival
Director’s Notes
To enhance the stage performance practice of our students and at the same time welcome the 3rd Asian Theatre Schools Festival, Mr. Zhou Long, Vice President of the Academy, called on the students to create opera works, which received a positive response from the whole school. Through months of hard working, a drama named From the Earth is produced. The play is a “free-style opera” jointly created by undergraduates and graduates from the Department of Opera Literature, Department of Directing, Department of Beijing Opera, Department of Music and Department of Stage Art. It spans four thousand years and presents Chang’e in classical myth and modern astronaut on the stage to show the eternally immutable subject — true love via the dialogue between those two people.
Students from the Department of Opera Literature conceived the idea and modified the script together with those from the Departments of Directing and Beijing Opera after discussion. For students from the Department of Opera Literature, the play is not merely a script, and what is more important is to present it on stage. For this reason, they produced a script writing that is more suitable for stage performance from the perspective of opera stage presence after taking the advice from students of different majors. Formal rehearsal of the play From the Earth started after several discussions and modifications. All the actors spent their precious spare time on recreation of the play with great passion. During the rehearsal, students from Departments of Directing and Beijing Opera expressed their opinions, fully exerted their professional competence and learned from each other constantly. With the perfection of the play day by day, every one has made progress, greatly enhancing the tacit understanding among team members.
The play has received much attention and support from the Academy since the beginning. Students from different departments cooperated positively and completed music composing, background music, and costume and stage design brilliantly; the instructors appeared at the stage to offer guidance, enabling the play to be successfully presented on the stage; leaders of the Academy and teachers of all departments gave valuable comments while providing support and encouragement after seeing the rehearsal. Thanks to the support of the Academy and the efforts of the students, the play has the chance to be performed on the Asian Theatre Schools Festival. My grateful thanks go to them and I wish the performance a success.
Synopsis
She, the goddess in the moon, flew to the moon because of love and lives there all by herself for four thousands of years without regrets;
He, an astronaut on the earth, visited the moon alone and feels heart-struck for he cannot forget his lover.
Henry, an astronaut from the earth, travels on the moon to realize the dream of human for thousands of years and comes across Chang'e, the goodness in Chinese classical myth. Chang'e was once the wife of Hou Yi (an expert archer). She was forced to swallow the elixir alone and fly to the moon because of a bad guy named Pengmeng. She lived in the lonely palace on the moon for four thousands of years and wished to return to the earth one day. The Jade Hare pound the antidote for her day after day. For four thousands of years, the pounding sound gradually blended in the song of the years and turned to her reminiscence of Hou Yi. Henry, who is confronted with seven-year itch and upset by his marriage, encounters Chang'e in the moon. The two felt like old friends at the first meeting and had a talk over the past. What kind of love would a dialogue transcending time and space lead to?
The “moon” has always been an aesthetic symbol in both Chinese and the Western world since ancient times. By taking the moon as a carrier, the play builds a bridge between ancient and modern times, Chinese and foreign countries, the heaven and the earth via two relationships. It breaks conventional narrative structure and way of stage presentation, combining ancient myth with modern scientific event, contrasting classical civilization with modern civilization, and integrating drama elements with traditional opera, to fully exert the innovativeness of "free-style opera" and explore the "modernization of traditional theatre".
Waving her sleeves, she is Chang’e in the lonely moon palace; taking off the coat, she becomes the astronaut' wife - Luna.
Wearing the helmet, he is the astronaut exploring the moon; putting off silvery space suit, he becomes Hou Yi in the legend.
In the complex time-to-space conversion, are “feelings” of the past still as same as before?
What’s love on earth? That makes lovers vow to stick together in life and death. The one from the earth, please return to the earth with true love.
Running Time: 45 minutes