PRODUCTION The Tempest [Baofengyu]
Data Type：production background
Title：About the Contemporary Legend Theatre
Source：The Tempest Special Edition Program (2006)
Place：Taipei
Publisher：Contemporary Legend Theatre [Dangdai chuanqi juchang]
Date：2006
Language：English
Abstract：an introduction to the company's history, creative objectives and major productions
The Contemporary Legend Theatre (TAIWAN)
◎To integrate traditional Chinese Opera with modern theatre
In 1986, a group of Peking Opera players, being keenly aware of the decline of traditional Chinese Opera, began thinking seriously how to integrate traditional Chinese Opera with modern theatre. Thanks to the efforts of WU Hsing-Kuo, WEI Hai-Min and other equally enthusiastic young Peking Opera players, the Contemporary Legend Theatre (CLT) was founded.
Adapted from Shakespeare’s tragedy Macbeth, The Kingdom of Desire ─ the CLT’s first play ─ sought to fuse the singing, acting, reciting, and acrobatic fighting of traditional Chinese Opera with Western canons, and presented the performance in theatre forms. The performance successfully subverted the playgoers’ recognition of Peking Opera and created a totally new aesthetics of eastern theatre.
Ever since its founding, the CLT has been invited to perform abroad many times, and in such venue as Royal National Theatre, London, U.K., Festival d’Avignon, France, Asian Performing Arts Festival, Tokyo, Japan, 40th Anniversary of Odin Theatre, Denmark, and Spoleto Festival, U.S.A.
◎To fuse eastern and western theatre arts
For years, the audience, domestic and overseas, has applauded the CLT’s repertoire. They include adaptations of Shakespeare, such as The Kingdom of Desire, War and Eternity (Hamlet), King Lear, and The Tempest; adaptations of Greek tragedies such as Medea, Oresteia; traditional repertoire Yin Yang River, new repertoires, such as The Last Days of Emperor Lee Yu, The Hidden Concubine; and an innovative Hip Opera, A Play of Brother and Sister. In 2005, the CLT challenges Waiting for Godot, a play of the theatre of the absurd by Nobel Prize Winner for literature, Samuel Beckett.
To adapt western canonic works with elements of traditional Chinese Opera, to fuse eastern and western theatre art, and to strike a new path for traditional Chinese Opera ─ such features have become the troupe’s hallmarks.
◎To integrate traditional Chinese Opera with modern theatre
In 1986, a group of Peking Opera players, being keenly aware of the decline of traditional Chinese Opera, began thinking seriously how to integrate traditional Chinese Opera with modern theatre. Thanks to the efforts of WU Hsing-Kuo, WEI Hai-Min and other equally enthusiastic young Peking Opera players, the Contemporary Legend Theatre (CLT) was founded.
Adapted from Shakespeare’s tragedy Macbeth, The Kingdom of Desire ─ the CLT’s first play ─ sought to fuse the singing, acting, reciting, and acrobatic fighting of traditional Chinese Opera with Western canons, and presented the performance in theatre forms. The performance successfully subverted the playgoers’ recognition of Peking Opera and created a totally new aesthetics of eastern theatre.
Ever since its founding, the CLT has been invited to perform abroad many times, and in such venue as Royal National Theatre, London, U.K., Festival d’Avignon, France, Asian Performing Arts Festival, Tokyo, Japan, 40th Anniversary of Odin Theatre, Denmark, and Spoleto Festival, U.S.A.
◎To fuse eastern and western theatre arts
For years, the audience, domestic and overseas, has applauded the CLT’s repertoire. They include adaptations of Shakespeare, such as The Kingdom of Desire, War and Eternity (Hamlet), King Lear, and The Tempest; adaptations of Greek tragedies such as Medea, Oresteia; traditional repertoire Yin Yang River, new repertoires, such as The Last Days of Emperor Lee Yu, The Hidden Concubine; and an innovative Hip Opera, A Play of Brother and Sister. In 2005, the CLT challenges Waiting for Godot, a play of the theatre of the absurd by Nobel Prize Winner for literature, Samuel Beckett.
To adapt western canonic works with elements of traditional Chinese Opera, to fuse eastern and western theatre art, and to strike a new path for traditional Chinese Opera ─ such features have become the troupe’s hallmarks.
