"Vaporous forms suggested by the colors of the curtains on the ocean floor… shadows materializing generally … they wear masks, and their traits are fixed as embedded in the plaster … grimaces addressed the audience in a nodding head … sacral dances and macabre dance, with screams and cries … choreographed scenes of torture."

The above are selected quotes from a review published in the Marseille-based daily newspaper, La Provence about the 66th Avignon Theatre Festival held in France in July 2012. And the quotes refer to a single production by a Chinese theater troupe which was performing a 300-year-old ghost story by means of pure physical theater.

"As this was our first time bringing a production abroad, I thought it suitable to present something very traditionally Chinese," Zhao Miao, the founder of Theater San Tuoqi, the physical theater company based in Beijing, told the Global Times.

World premiere

At the Theatre Golovine in Avignon, from July 6 to 28, 2012, seven actors from the troupe performed this work, Aquatique (Shuisheng), which was also the world premiere of the play.

And now the play is beginning a domestic tour of China. Aquatique will be staged at the Ke Center for the Contemporary Arts on Kaixuan Road in Changning district.

The story is adapted from "Wang Liulang" which is included in a collection of ancient Chinese folk ghost stories Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio by the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) writer Pu Songling (1640-1715).

A water ghost called Wang Liulang is trapped deep in a river and in order to reincarnate into another life, he has to drown a human being to take his place. But very few people ever pass by this remote waterway leaving Wang despairing, until one day a fisherman comes walking by.

As the report from La Provence notes, the production features masks, "sacrificial" dances and drums, elements which Zhao admits he purposely included to quickly contextualize the play for overseas audiences as a particularly Chinese story.

 "I'm sure that most foreign audiences have never heard of Pu Songling or his work, so I endeavored to present some recognizable elements at the beginning of the show to give audiences a general impression of what to expect," Zhao told the Global Times.

An inspiration for the production was Nuo, an ancient Chinese culture which originated in today's Jiangxi Province more than 3,000 years ago and which was later expanded into many areas of China. This culture had its own distinct performing traditions, including Nuo drama, Nuo music, and Nuo dance. In all of these, performers wore a Nuo mask. Beyond mere entertainment, these performances were seen as a way of communicating with God, and as a way of exorcising evil spirits and attracting good fortune.

Performing taboos

"We even consulted the China Nuo Drama Research Association to learn more about particular customs and taboos around Nuo performances. For example, actors weren't allowed to expose any part of their body during a performance, hence the need for masks.

"And we chose the way of wearing these masks that is popular in Guizhou Province: that is, wearing the mask on the forehead, acting with the head lowered, and wearing a veil to cover the lower part of the face," Zhang Shengyue, who plays the water ghost, told the Global Times.

Wu Di, who plays the fisherman in Aquatique added that this presented certain challenges: "It was difficult for the actors because our necks were very sore after every performance," he said.

According to their roles, the actors wear differently colored masks. So, Zhang wears a white mask because he is dead, while Wu wears a mask of earth yellow, similar to the skin tone of a Chinese person.

Meanwhile, a blue mask is worn by the "devil in the water," who has the power to drag humans into the river and turn them into ghosts, and a red mask is worn by the character of Zhong Kui, a legendary exorcist. 

Defeating the devil

Although Aquatique starts with a ghost who wants to kill a human, by the end of the story Wang Liulang and the fisherman have become good friends and have untied to defeat the devil in the water with the help of Zhong Kui.

"I want to relate some universal values through this story, and which will resonate with both foreigners and Chinese audiences," Zhao said.

He told the Global Times that he never thought of this story as a "standard drama with lines and dialogue." Since founding the troupe 17 years ago, Zhao has been dedicated to producing purely physical theater. This is despite the fact he has faced hostility and ridicule, not only from the public but sometimes from other theater practitioners.  

"I have always believed that the energy of our bodies is much more than the language we use, and that physical theater gives the director and the actors a great amount of space to play and experiment in," said Zhao.

Date: January 16 to 20, 7:30 pm

Venue: Ke Center for the Contemporary Arts

可当代艺术中心

Address: 613 Kaixuan Road

凯旋路613号

Tickets: 50 to 400 yuan

Call 6131-3080 for details