Epic contemporary Chinese

Since it opened 12 years ago, the Esplanade – Theatres on the Bay has traditionally welcomed Chinese New Year with the Huayi – Chinese Festival of Arts, an extravaganza of music, dance, theatre and visual arts from the Chinese diaspora.
With Thailand continuing to miss out on the tours of globetrotting contemporary works from China and Taiwan, I have the perfect excuse to take a break from the Bangkok shutdown and join Huayi for the third year in a row.
Mimi Yee, senior producer of programming at the Esplanade – Theatres on the Bay, is delighted the annual fest is still so popular.
“The principles of the Huayi – Chinese Festival of Arts remain the same even as we seek to continually excite and engage our audience at deeper levels. Through Huayi, we want to give our community the opportunity to come together to celebrate through the arts during the Lunar New Year period. As with other Esplanade festivals, Huayi is also a platform for us to nurture artists and to develop audiences.”
The artistic direction of this year’s Huayi carries on from last year’s Chinese adaptations of literary classics from various parts of the world and across different centuries. They included Hong Kong-based Edward Lam Dance Theatre’s “Awakening”, a staging of playwright Wong Wing Sze’s reinterpretation of Cao Xueqin’s classic novel “Dream of the Red Chamber” and Beijing-based Li Liuyi Theatre Studio’s adaptation of the Greek tragedy “Antigone” – both reviewed here.
“This year, we want our audience to be able to challenge their own artistic appetites through Huayi’s programmes and to experience the arts in new and different ways. That could be through experiencing a unique way of staging a theatre production, or a modern take on a traditional form,” she says.
An example is “A Dream Like a Dream”.
“This epic contemporary Chinese theatre masterpiece by theatre visionary Stan Lai, which the Esplanade is co-producing, invites some of the audience to take places in a specially created seating area that Lai describes as the ‘Lotus Pond’. These audience members will be in the middle of a two-storey-high stage that gives them a 360-degree view of the performance.”
This co-production of Taiwan’s Performance Workshop, Beijing Magnificent Culture and Esplanade is the respected Chinese-language playwright and director’s revival of his 2000 seminal work.
The Beijing Times was full of praise for this work, saying “Never has Chinese drama been so transcendent”. The South China Morning Post seconded the opinion, describing it as “poetic, philosophical, with emotional power” and commending its “vision and artistic accomplishment”.
With a cast of 29 established actors from China and Taiwan portraying more than 100 characters in this two-part, eight-hour epic, “A Dream Like a Dream” features more than 400 costumes designed by Academy Award-winner Tim Yip, whose works will also be showcased in the concurrent exhibition “Rotation – The Art of Tim Yip” that continues through late June.
“For ‘Good Soul of South Yangtze’, the Zhejiang Xiaobaihua Yue Opera Troupe has fused modern theatrical and music elements with traditional Chinese opera,” Yee continues. “This is a fresh take on a traditional form and provides the audience with a new way of experiencing Chinese opera.”
Musical experiment is also part of the programme. “In ‘‘Moving Horizon – A Nanyin Journey’’, the Singapore arts group Siong Leng Musical Association will present a production that pairs new arrangements of nanyin music with a theatrical treatment. Nanyin music has roots that go back more than a mil
 lennium and is regarded by Unesco as an intangible cultural heritage. This production will refresh the form for a modern-day audience,” Yee says.
Another musical experiment is the fusion of traditional Chinese music and jazz in “New Spin – East Meets Jazz” by Taiwan’s Sizhukong. Young opera singers from China will headline the “Voices of Brilliance” concert in a programme that presents both Western operatic arias and Chinese songs. Representing the indie music scene are Ding Ding and Shi Shi, Coconuts and Paige Su, all from Taiwan, in addition to Kolor from Hong Kong.
As always, the Esplanade’s programming is not only about importing foreign works, and this year the host has commissioned Singapore’s most internationally acclaimed contemporary dance company THE, led by Kuik Swee Boon, to collaborate with Taiwan’s Wu Yi-San on “The Ordinary Man”, which fuses modern physical movement with the traditional Chinese art of crosstalk.
Another festival commission is local theatre company Nine Years, led by director Nelson Chia, which is staging a Chinese-language production of Yasmina Reza’s contemporary French comedy “Art”. The work follows on from the company’s successful adaptations of “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” and “12 Angry Men” staged at Huayi over the last two years.
“The festival will continue to be a platform for Esplanade to present works by outstanding Chinese artists from the diaspora, particularly forms that are rarely seen by audiences in Singapore and the region,” says Yee of future plans.
“We will also continue to present the latest practices of Chinese artists and where opportunities arise, partner them to present or create new and meaningful work such as this year’s ‘A Dream Like a Dream’.
“Huayi’s programmes will also continue to reflect universal themes that make them accessible to a wide audience.”
A worthwhile trip for any arts fan sick of overpriced American popcorn fare, Yee promises that the festival has much to offer Thai audiences.
“As a multi-genre festival, Huayi’s programmes cut across language and cultural barriers to offer something that anyone can enjoy regardless of their interest and background. The festival’s dance and music programmes can be enjoyed by anyone and English surtitling or translations are provided for programmes that feature non-English dialogue.”

See you in Singaporen

Huayi – Chinese Festival of Arts runs from Thursday to February 16 at the Esplanade – Theatres on the Bay in Singapore.
There are 66 free shows. For the 31 ticketed ones, book at www.Sistic.com.sg.
See also www.huayifestival.com and www.Facebook.com/huayifestival.