Revisiting the classics

One of the box office hits at the recent “Huayi: Chinese Festival of Arts 2013” was Hong Kong-based Edward Lam Dance Theatre’s “Awakening”, a staging of playwright Wong Wing Sze’s reinterpretation of Cao Xueqin’s classical novel “Dream of the Red Chamber”. Prior to coming to the Esplanade – Theatres on the Bay in Singapore, the production was staged more than 60 times in mainland China after premiering in the Special Administrative Region.

One may argue that its commercial success was mainly due to superstar singer and actress Denise Ho. She produced the show and also portrayed the male lead Jia Baoyu, the carefree young man who enjoyed many special relationships with the women in his wealthy household. But another reason it did so well is that the production is modern and thoroughly entertaining, with musical numbers as well as contemporary colloquial dialogue helping to temper the running time of almost four hours, with only one intermission.

Wong’s new take that had Jia, after his death, revisiting his romance-filled life was a deft dramaturgical approach and had the audience revisiting parts of the novel themselves. I’m sure that some of us occasionally revisit our pasts and consider how our lives would have turned out had we made some different decisions, even while knowing that what’s done cannot be undone.

While the rest of the all-female cast members, Hong Kong and Taiwanese stage actresses all of whom with credible characterisation and charismatic stage presence, formed a strong ensemble, Ho looked and sounded like an outsider. But then again, given that her character was revisiting post-mortem, she could get away with her superstardom. 

A few nights later, the Beijing-based Li Liuyi Theatre Studio’s staging of classical Greek tragedy “Antigone” was so by-the-book that it made me think that I was reading, not watching, Sophocles’ 2,500-year-old masterpiece in a Chinese translation.

Of course, one may argue that the pleasure of watching classical Greek tragedy also lies in appreciating the sheer beauty of the spoken language, and hence contemporary directors or playwrights should think long and hard before tampering with it. But the audience also has the right to connect, both emotionally and intellectually with the classical Greek play, which portrays the title character’s conflict between devotion to the family and to her nation in a modern production reflecting her unique family culture and political state. 

But while we could occasionally feel the blood and tears in the souls of Antigone, Creon, Haemon and Teiresias, we could only see well-honed body muscles in the chorus, who resembled talking pillars around the main characters far more than the active cast members in the traditional staging. The minimal set and costumes were well unified in white yet the lighting designer could only add additional wintriness, instead of life, to the production.

 

MORE TO SEE

>>> The contemporary and experimental theatre series “The Studios” continues until July 27 at the Esplanade in Singapore.

>>> “Flipside”, offering Fringe-style dance, music and theatre performances, is scheduled for May 17 to 26.

>>> For more details, see www.Esplanade.com.