Tragedy, comedy and Yueju Opera

• Source: Global Times
• [09:03 July 16 2010]
• Comments

Adapting and growing

Yueju Opera had its origins in the Spring and Autumn Period (770-476BC), and it is a folk performance art mainly involving speaking and singing.

The voices and musical rhythm of Yueju Opera are traditionally very soft and slow.

"When I watched Yueju Opera for the first time in Taiwan several years ago, its beauty impressed me most, and at that time, I thought whether this traditional Chinese art form could apply to my production," Lai said.

He said that the reasons he did not choose Peking Opera or Kunqu Opera were that he wanted to give the local audience in Hangzhou and nearby regions something very familiar and intimate and that "compared to Yueju Opera, Kunqu Opera features a more refined and elegant style, but there are chaotic comic scenes in my play."

Zhan Min, the vice director of the Hangzhou Yueju Opera Theater, added that "Yueju Opera learned from drama how to produce inner feelings, so it is natural to combine the two performance arts."

According to Lai, this latest version of Secret Love in Peach Blossom Land maintains the original tragedy of Secret Love, but the comedy In Peach Blossom Land is more Yueju Opera-style.

"In Peach Blossom Land has been entirely reworked, from the lines to the music and costumes," said Lai.

"I asked a professional Yueju Opera writer to rewrite the script, and half the original lines were cut and were replaced with Yueju Opera lyrics."

He added that the whole play was restructured because of the slow tempo of Yueju Opera.

"But that is just the charm of a traditional opera. Usually, it takes some 15 years for a Yueju Opera actor to become professional. It is really time-tested, a specialty that can really never be imitated."

"And this time, it is even more interesting when it is sharing the same stage with a contemporary drama," he said.

Zhan agrees with Lai. "Opera can not be called a real opera without singing," she said.

According to Lai, the lyrics of the Yueju Opera in this play will be shown with Manda-rin subtitles and sung in the Zhejiang dialect.