To love, or not to love? This is the question bugging Emperor Xuanzong
of the Tang Dynasty (AD 618-907). Making great achievements during his reign, he
is also plagued by the conundrum which has perplexed men and women throughout
history.
Whether it is nobler to elope with his beloved concubine, leaving his people
at the hands of fate, or secure his unparalleled fortune and fame, leaving his
lover to die in shame? This plays too heavy on his mind, haunting him night and
day.
Welcome to Emperor Xuanzong's world, and the story "The Palace of Eternal
Youth" (Changsheng Dian), told by the Suzhou Kunqu Opera Theatre and featuring a
live band composed of some 30 traditional Chinese instruments such as the bamboo
flute, reed pipe and strings.
Following the interest Kunqu Opera aroused by the same theatre's another
production "The Peony Pavilion" (Mudan Ting) in Beijing last month, "The Palace
of Eternal Youth" will continue to promote the revival of the old performing art
genre, and again inspire a wide range of discussions of how to preserve the
"Master Piece of Oral and Intangible Cultural Heritage" awarded by the United
Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.
Revival of tradition
The original version by Hong Sheng (1645-1704) consists of 50 episodes, but
only a few are performed today while many have been lost. The version by Suzhou
Kunqu Opera Theatre is a three-night show of 27 episodes rearranged by Gu
Duhuang, a well-known expert of Kunqu Opera from Suzhou.
Similar to "The Peony Pavilion," "The Palace of Eternal Youth" is a
co-production by professionals from Taiwan, Hong Kong, Suzhou and a few other
cities.
Gu directed the play starring leading actress Wang Fang and actor Zhao Wenlin
as Yang and Emperor Xuanzong. The Academy Award winner Yip Kam-Tim from Hong
Kong designed the stage and costume and Chen Chite, a businessman as well as a
Kunqu Opera lover from Taiwan, invested and produced the work.
Ten years ago, Chen fell in love with the Kunqu Opera when he first watched
"The Peony Pavilion" in Taipei. Being a loyal fan, he continues to donate to
Taiwan's Kunqu Opera ensembles and sponsor performances.
"The artists and literati in the Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1911)
dynasties nurtured such a refine theatre genre. I am not sure whether it could
live longer in our time. But I would like to do something to preserve the
traditional Kunqu Opera," says Chen.
Two years ago, he planned to invest in a production, practising a series of
marketing, promotion, workshops and campus seminars.
With the idea of producing a play of very traditional style, he invited Gu to
rearrange the scripts. Wishing to attract more young audiences and promoting it
to the Western world, he has Yip as the stage and costume designer.
Chen's idea is positively responded by Gu, Yip and other Kunqu Opera experts
from Taiwan, Hong Kong, Suzhou and other cities. Some 20 of them and the cast
gathered in Suzhou in October 2002 to discuss the issues concerning the future
of Kunqu Opera.
All of them agreed that the modern theatrical productions depend much on the
special effects by high technology, which destroys the tension of the virtual
theatre itself.
In Gu's mind, most of today's productions of traditional Chinese folk opera
fail to retain the original essence in terms of culture, losing its authentic
charm but packed with meaningless symphonic accompaniment, pop-song-like tunes
and gorgeous setting.
Born into a prestigious family of scholars in Suzhou, Gu learned Chinese
painting, calligraphy and seal cutting when he was young and later enrolled at
the Shanghai Fine Art Junior College to learn Western oil painting.
Influenced by his family, Gu has loved the Kunqu Opera and Peking Opera since
boyhood and later learned drama at the Art Department of Suzhou Social Education
College.
Since the 1940s, he has devoted all his time to preserving the Kunqu Opera,
bringing up hundreds of Kunqu Opera performers and discovering and restoring
many scripts which were on the verge of being lost forever.
He also served as deputy director of the Suzhou Cultural Bureau in early
1950s and was in charge of the Suzhou Kunqu Opera Ensemble since it was
established in 1956. In 2002, Gu received the Award of Notable Artistic
Achievement in Kunqu Opera by China's Ministry of Culture.
Gu holds an extreme view that the Kunqu Opera is not being "murdered, but is
committing suicide." He says before the founding of the New China, Kunqu Opera
had been bogged in great deal of trouble for a long time. During war time,
people struggled for a living while the government ignored folk opera.
However, the trouble facing the genre today is not at all similar.
Both the government and public have realized the importance of preservation
and also invest great money and effort: the problem is how to do it.
"It is suicidal to turn the traditional style into a modern way, turn the
elegant form into a popular one, turn the Chinese opera into something like the
Western theatre," Gu said with great concern.
"The value of the Kunqu Opera is its cultural heritage but not the market
value at the box-office. It is wrong to try to create a play with mass appeal.
Anyway it is a genre favoured by the intellectual elite. Many of today's works
fail to suit the refine taste, neither the popular."
Therefore his direction of "The Palace of Eternal Youth" is to make it as
traditional as possible. As the play is famous for its tunes and literary
scripts which are said to be better than "The Peony pavilion," Gu tries to
retain its original version as much as possible.
Stage appeal
However, Gu did not expect that his idea would be agreed by the Hong
Kong-born Yip who received the Western-styled education and works with many
Western artists.
The 43-year-old Yip even says that he would make the stage and costume more
traditional than tradition itself.
"I always believe that tradition will lead us into the future because the
modern world has lost its way. I am confident that in the not too distant future
traditional art will once again be celebrated in all its glory, so that we can
safely look back, naturally roaming through history and time in search of all
that has been lost, cherishing memories and taking in everything, ensuring the
future is much more than an empty materialist world," he says.
Yip designed more than 140 costumes, including those for the emperor,
empress, various lords, generals, eunuchs, servants and ordinary citizens. They
are all brand-new in many colours and styles compared with those usually
featured in today's folk opera plays.
Yip is world-known for his design in Ann Lee's movie "Crouching Tiger, Hidden
Dragon" which won the Oscar Awards in 2001.
Graduated in Photography Department from the Hong Kong Polytechnic, Yip
kicked off his career in 1986 by participating in John Wu's "A Better Tomorrow."
Ever since, he has worked in many movies of prominent directors from Hong Kong,
Taiwan and Chinese mainland and also impressed the world with his marvelous
setting and costume design for drama, dance and Peking Opera since 1993.
He says he does not feel comfortable seeing some of today's "traditional
opera," which features elaborate settings, lighting and music.
"I have seen many of these works, copying the Western style or the so-called
modern theatre. I don't like it and I tried my best to get rid of the Western
influence when I worked for 'The Palace of Eternal Youth,' although I have been
involved in it for a dozen years."
He learned from Gu and undertook research. He found an interesting
illustrated book featuring 97 Kunqu Opera figures of the court opera performers
of Xianfeng and Tongzhi emperors of Qing Dynasty. He was impressed by the
costumes and helmets which were far more exquisite than those worn by today's
performers.
"Whether in terms of colour, clothing patterns, embroidery or the depiction
of facial make up, they all possessed a high quality and remarkably refinement.
They are very different from the colours and patterns we see on today's stage,"
he says.
Inspired by these figures, Yip focused on the rearrangement of the colours
when he designed the costumes. The colours used in the traditional costumes
include red, yellow, black, white, green, blue, purple, pink and light
green/blue. Yip has made them into new hues according to his own design.
"Today's costumes in Chinese folk operas including Kunqu Opera are those from
Peking Opera. But I personally don't think it fits Kunqu Opera," says Yip.
"As I understand the music and tunes of Kunqu Opera, for example the
shuimodiao, it is gentle, soft and graceful. While Peking Opera, say
xipi'erhuang, the tune sounds more bustling and louder. Therefore, in my mind
the colour for Kunqu Opera's costumes should be mild and soft."
He also made great efforts in designing the embroidery patterns, discovering
old craftsmen in Suzhou, learning from them and designing new patterns on the
basis of those they provided.
Throughout the hot summer last year, a number of veteran embroidery
handicraftsmen in Suzhou, worked through the day producing work of the highest
quality according to Yip's strict requirement.
The result is that the exquisite costumes designed by Yip and hand-made by
these old skilled craftsmen highlight the entire image of the
performance.
