Long live the king

By Hu Bei Source:Global Times Published: 2014-6-5 17:13:01

A new adaptation of Eugène Ionesco's Exit the King produced in Shanghai reframes the study of mortality to take place in the city.

In this version, the protagonist becomes the ancient Chinese emperor Huangdi. As his death approaches, local people refer to him as Jiabeng, a word that was used in ancient times to respectfully refer to the death of an emperor.

French director Alain Timár has cast the play with young students from Shanghai Theatre Academy (STA). Named Huangdi Zhengzai Jiabeng (The King Is Dying), the production is being staged at STA until this weekend.

The cast of the play from Shanghai Theatre Academy



 

French director Alain Timár



 

A scene from Huangdi Zhengzai Jiabeng Photos: Courtesy of Alain Timár



Big contrast

Timár said one of his motivations for doing the play is the use of such a young cast. "For me, it is a very interesting attempt to direct a group of young actors with Eastern faces to perform a play about an old, dying Western king."

The director believes the big contrasts between youth and death, East and West, the French director and the Chinese actors, will produce an "unexpected, fascinating, chemical effect" on the stage.

"I'm always interested in cross-cultural interaction and cooperation with big contrasts. Working with people across different cultures can constantly bring me fresh inspiration," Timár said.

Since the 1980s, Timár has directed nearly 50 productions in many European and Asian countries, including Romania, South Korea and the Philippines. Huangdi Zhengzai Jiabeng is his first co-production with STA.

Ionesco's work is a mainstay for Timár. In Timár's opinion, Ionesco's works are beyond time and space and have great scope for adaptation by later generations. "The greatness of Ionesco is he always can show very serious subjects in a comic way," Timár said.

In Huangdi Zhengzai Jiabeng, Timár said he tried to simplify the stage setting, and wanted the audience to pay the greatest attention to the acting.

"I encouraged the actors to improvise body language in order to add some comic effect," he said.

Absurd assertion

However, Timár said he really can't understand why Ionesco and his works are labeled as, "absurdist," or why people like to classify his works together with those of Samuel Beckett's. "They are totally different and I don't think their works are 'absurd,'" he said.

In Timár's opinion, the theme of Huangdi Zhengzai Jiabeng - death - is the subject that holds the most fascination for human beings. "Ionesco himself also used to say, 'No political system can deliver us from the pain of living, from our fear of death … It is the human condition that directs the social condition, not vice versa.'"

Timár believes the common point between Ionesco and Beckett is that their works are both ahead of their time. "What they wrote and how they wrote broke with the literary tradition of their time," Timár said.

Festival time

In July, Huangdi Zhengzai Jiabeng will go to France to join the Avignon Theatre Festival (ATF) 2014.

It will be performed in Timár's own theater there, the Théâtre des Halles. The theater was established by Timár in 1983 and has become a major local venue.

Timár said that, although Avignon has been well-known internationally for its annual theater festival since 1947, the town currently has just four or five theaters.

However, with the increasing influence of ATF around the whole world, large numbers of people from different countries swarm to Avignon every year at festival time. Professionals and amateurs alike stage various productions in every possible space, including like schools, the street and even bars.

Timár told the Global Times that during last year's ATF, about 2,500 theater productions were staged in the city over the three-week period.

"The town has been getting more and more crowded during the festivals of recent years, which has produced some environmental and traffic issues," Timár said.

Timár said he is also concerned about the proliferation of crudely made productions and people seeking to make a quick profit from the booming theater market the festival offers, and hopes something will be done to maintain the festival's quality and integrity.

Cultural understanding

Timár said in recent years, more Chinese theater productions have been staged at the ATF, most based on contemporary works. In 2011, the musical, The Love of Three Oranges created by Meng Jinghui, a famous experimental Chinese theater director, and Hamlet Machine, Wang Chong's adaptation of William Shakespeare's Hamlet, were both performed at ATF.

Timár said this is a good trend because, through viewing these theater productions, French people will learn more about contemporary Chinese thinking, how Chinese people see the Western world and also their take on the Western classics.

"Even now, I still find that for many French people, their impressions about China are limited to Peking Opera and streets jammed with bicycles. We should try to update such impressions. That is why I want to bring the play to France," Timár said.

Date: Until Saturday, 7:15 pm

Venue: New Space Theatre Shanghai Theatre Academy

上海戏剧学院新空间剧场

Address: 630 Huashan Road

华山路630号

Tickets: Free


Newspaper headline: New adaptation of classic examination of mortality takes on Chinese characteristics


Posted in: Metro Shanghai, Culture

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