| 21 August 2011
Where to start? This production by the Shanghai Peking Opera Troupe, performing what is essentially Hamlet in traditional Jingju style, initially intrigues then becomes breathtaking, deeply moving and well deserving of its audience’s standing ovation.
Jingju is a highly stylized form with a reliance on a role-type system and four key dramatic skills: singing, speaking, acting and fighting. Symbolism and tradition inform everything from the vocal nuances of the songs to the colours of the costumes. I would thoroughly recommend doing some preparation if you have tickets, and at the very least arriving early and reading the informative programme notes.
From the first, unless you are of the cognoscenti, you are immersed in the fabulous and unfamiliar. The set is sparse but stylish, the voices keening, the movement and dancing precise, extraordinarily skillful and “other” to the Western experience. For instance, quite why Zi Dan should declaim whilst slowly pirouetting on one foot with the other extended above his head, however impressive, is perplexing to a new audience. We seemed a little unsure of how to react appropriately and perhaps glad of the supertitles.
However, such is the skill of the cast and extent of the visual and aural feast, that one is captured. In the second act more use is made of Shakespeare’s actual text. Quite suddenly our ancient and beloved really meets this distant, but likewise revered, art form and the result is utterly entrancing. Yin Li/ Ophelia’s deranged musings become a heartbreakingly poignant aria and Zi Dan/Hamlet’s soliloquy is made new.
For me, this connection and resonance between two cultures was the delight of the show and I found myself in tears. Equally you could go to be impressed by the newness of the experience, the spectacle, the virtuosity of the performance and the oft mentioned glorious costumes. Lucky ticketholders! See if you can join them.
The Revenge of Prince Zi Dan, Festival Theatre, 19-21 August, times vary
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