| Dis-Orientations' Swan Song not to be missed |
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| Culture | |
| Wednesday, 27 September 2006 | |
 2 for 1 ticket offer for Dimsum readers – see below for details.Dis-Orientations closes this Sunday 1st October - Chinese National Day - seeing the return of renowned opera performer Zhang Ruihong to her native China. Until then, there remains the opportunity to see a unique production which marries Chinese and Western performing art, history, and contemporary life in a moving and thought-provoking way. Conceived and directed by Michael Walling, responsible for the recent revival of Nixon in China at the London Coliseum earlier this year, the play draws us into this dizzying cultural melee through a British father’s search for his missing daughter in modern-day Shanghai. His quest, the unfolding story of his daughter, echoes from China’s past, and the relationships the characters form resonate with the classic Chinese love story, the Butterfly Lovers, beautifully performed by Zhang Ruihong and Ma Haili. As East meets West and the modern meets the traditional, the performances begin to merge and interact – the movements in the piece have a wonderful sense of flow and coordination. But as proves inevitable, differences also throw up conflict and disorientation. Walling, talking to Dimsum after the performance, described the play as being representative of the 21st century: its confusion and change, its smaller more connected world and the questions of identity and gender exposed by the retreat of traditional cultural forms. How you put together the pieces is very much dependent on your viewpoint, and who you are – young or old, East or West, or somewhere between the two. The mix of these many different elements came about through the collaborative nature in which the piece was conceived. Zhang explained to Dimsum, that in contrast to traditional Chinese Yue Opera, there was no fixed script to start with, but only an idea of the scene. This therefore required each performer to proactively create the performance through interaction with, and learning from the other cast. However, Zhang sees the underlying unity in the piece, symbolised in the choice to perform Butterfly Lovers: “I believe that people’s emotions, their feelings to life are the same, no matter whether in ancient time or modern time, or in East or West… The story in Dis-Orientations to me is a story of love for your lover, for your family… The butterfly symbolises a beautiful wish. After all those struggles, at the end of Butterfly Lover, Liang and Zhu become butterflies after death, in which they eventually overcome all the social biases and obstacles, and finally they can be together, happily, and forever…” Globalisation, however, brings about a different type of unity – a simple uniformity that loses difference rather than reaffirms our human nature – and the play presents this in a hilarious scene in which the play’s diverse characters act out banal language lesson conversations in the same American accent. Seeing a red guard inviting an elderly mother to have a pizza and orange juice, the mother responding in a male voice that she would love to, demonstrates how globalised communication obliterates the rich and diverse nature of characters, their cultures and their histories. Artistic director Michael Walling explained that the reason he chose Yue Opera out of many other influential Chinese Operas was because it is the only one with pure female performers (although there has been a recent emergence of male performers). The delicate depiction of emotion and beautiful body movements fitted his desire to focus on femininity in this, his second piece in a trilogy exploring identity, gender and performance. When asked about her opinion of the future of Yue Opera in China, Zhang gave Dimsum a positive picture. She said, as the second biggest form of Chinese Opera, Yue opera has existed for 100 years, which makes it still relatively new. However, it evolves over time, is distinctive and is gaining respect, as evidenced through her receipt of the prestigious Plum Flower Award, the highest national award in China for artists in all artistic realms. Zhang’s presence alone is ample reason to see this performance before it closes this Sunday. That her collaboration with Walling is so effective and has resulted in such a timely, beautiful and relevant artwork makes it unmissable. Dis-Orientations is playing at Riverside Studios, Crisp Road, Hammersmith, London W8. Tickets can be booked on the door, or by phone on 020 8237 1111 - Mention Dimsum when booking for a special 2 for 1 offer! Performances daily at 7:45pm, Sunday at 4pm and 7:45pm. Hurry, show ends this Sunday, 1st October 2006. For more information, see: http://www.riversidestudios.co.uk/ http://www.bordercrossings.org.uk/disorientations/ Read what our readers have had to say about the play here |
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