You've got that lovin' feeling

Everyone appears to be falling in love with the wrong person in Italian director Giacomo Ravicchio's production of The White Snake.

Adapted from a Chinese folk tale, the tragic story is told with fresh eyes and new digital technology for its premiere at Shanghai Dramatic Arts Center next month.

According to the original tale, a snake-like demon takes on human form and falls in love with young scholar Xu Xian, but their true love breaks the law of heaven. In a bid to save Xu's soul, monk Fa Hai intervenes by casting the white snake into a deep well underneath a tower.

The story has been the subject of several Chinese opera, film and TV series. Shanghai Dramatic Arts Center decided earlier this year to make a theatrical adaptation of the story and invited the award-winning playwright, director, set designer and actor to direct it.

"What is striking about the story is its message that different species can fall in love. Love is stronger than any difference," said the 50-year-old director, who also serves as the artistic director of the Meridiano Theater in Denmark.

"Love has nothing to do with any human organization. It's like a chemical reaction you can't control. That's why you always fall for the 'wrong' person."

Unrequited love is the common denominator that most of the characters in the play share. Fa loves Xu with such possessiveness that he takes him prisoner, while the Green Snake, sister of the White Snake, is often jealous of Xu.

"I want to make the audience feel some of these emotions but in a more subtle way," said the director.

He is mulling taking the play on an international tour but must first juggle the different demands of Chinese and foreign audiences.

"If I push it too much, the European audiences may not be able to follow the story, or the Chinese will lose interest," he said. "So I want to make a universal version."

Ravicchio said language is not a barrier despite all the actors speaking in Chinese. He believes images are more powerful than dialogue and hopes to create symbolic visual effects capable of transcending the power of the written - or spoken - word.

Jerome Baur, a French musician who has collaborated with Ravicchio for more than a decade, scored the play. Picking up traditional Chinese elements from his time in Paris's Chinatown, Baur has produced an eclectic soundtrack. In the coming years, he said he is looking to create more fusion sounds and set a new "tradition for the future".

July 15 - Aug 2, 7:15 pm

Shanghai Dramatic Arts Center

288 Anfu Road

上海话剧艺术中心，安福路288号

Tel: 6473-4560

Tickets: 150-200 yuan

(China Daily 06/06/2009 page14)