China
Tianjin People's Art Theatre
Directed by Sun Xiaoxing
Written by Anton Chekhov
Artistic Director: Zhong Hai
WHEN:
20th Oct. 2018, 15:00
20th Oct. 2018, 19:00
21st Oct. 2018, 15:00
WHERE: Studio Theatre of the Grand Theatre
Duration: 100 minutes (without intermission)
Performed in Chinese, with Chinese and English subtitles
Reviews
If The Cherry Orchard is a doomsday prophecy, it points to the 21st century disaster before it occurs. A crisis in relationships is particularly prominent in the “screen generation” that grew up in the digital network. Even being in the same physical place, they seem to be split into a different time and space. They live in their own little world, whisper to themselves, and even body and mind can be separated so they are floating in their own clouds. This way, although you stay indoors, you can forget that you are alone. Lazing around in bed, you can hold onto your dreams and snacks, just as Chekhov’s characters Gayev and Ranevskaya stick to their cherry orchard “bubble.” They are the generation that refuses to grow up. They choose to hide in a cocoon, to resist reality. They are seen as “freaks,” and the cherry orchard they live in is also frightening. It is regarded as a murderous house of mirrors, or a maiden’s womb. If The Cherry Orchard is an elegy, it is like one of Neruda’s poems: “Always, always you recede through the evenings towards where the twilight goes erasing statues.” All figures disappear in the twilight of the world. The sound in the sky of the breaking string is also the sound of the broken screen.
About The Cherry Orchard
The story begins with Gayev and his sister Ranevskaya returning to their cherry orchard. The aristocratic manor contains their past as if it were a relative, friend or past lover. Reunion also means separation; they linger and indulge in dreams and memories. But collapse is the inevitable end to the cherry orchard. The cherry orchard is more than just an aristocratic manor. It is something evanescent, fragile or transparent. It is a name that was erased, the long marks on the floors from countless cleanings, and the water vapor on a mirror surface in the winter. It is a ghost or an invisible person. It disappears at a time of transformation. A goodbye is leaving all those things when the world turns away.
Director Sun Xiaoxing and young actors from Tianjin People’s Art Theatre, who portray themselves as Ranevskaya, Gayev and Anya, return to the cherry orchard. They are not just old owners, but new owners. The past is about to pass, whereas the future is not yet here. Standing before the cherry orchard, we are lost.
About Sun Xiaoxing
Sun Xiaoxing is an up-and-coming playwright, director, critic and curator, and he is very notable in China. He established the company en? (What has happened? How has it come to this?) in 2015 and the company launched the Cyber Theatre Project in 2016. His works, to name but a few, include Drift Home, Speed Show: Drift Internet Café, Love’s Labour’s Lost, Here Is the Message You Asked For... Don't Tell Anyone Else ;-), The Cherry Orchard.
He has been invited to Festival/Tokyo, Kyoto Experiment, OzAsia Festival, Wuzhen Theatre Festival, Singapore International Festival of Arts, Shenzhen New Media Art Festival, Shenzhen Contemporary Theatre Biennale, Power Station of Art ReActor, and so on and so forth.
He has also curated a good number of well-known projects, among which are Public Space Performance Series Glitch and Error of Sceno Place Performance Unit in Shenzhen Contemporary Theatre Biennale 2018, and Duàn Céng Zài Zào Public Performance Unit of the Sanxingdui Theatre Festival 2017, Cradle Project of the International Youth Theatre.
Credits
Producer: Wang Weizhong
Playwright: Anton Chekhov
Translator: Tong Daoming
Director: Sun Xiaoxing
Stage Design: Wang Lixin
Cast: Zhang Jingjing, Du Zijun, Fan Fan, Gao Qizheng, Jiang Zhihua, Zhou Hang, ?Zhou Miao, Wang Jue
Artistic Director: Zhong Hai
Production Manager: Wang Yadi
Supervising Producer: Li Yang
Supervisor: Luo Jun, Wang Yong
Composer: Joy Ginger
Projection Design: Atomic Visual Studio
Technology Management: Liu Guolin
Sound Design: Wang Yong
Lighting Design: Ren Yi
Costume Design: Xue Lingyan
Make-Up Design: Zhang Peng
Props Design: Li Qing
Art: Yuan Dong
Lighting Manager: Liu Zhenhui
Sound Manager: Zhang Shuliang
Costume Manager: Si Yuan Ruixue
Make-Up Manager: Liang Yingying
Projection Manager: Yuan Dong
Props Manager: Fan Bohao
Stage Coordination: Li Qing
Log Keeper: Zhou Miao
Stage Manager: Wang Jue
Publicity: Li Yang
Graphic Design: Juque Visual
Publicity: Tianjin People’s Art Theatre Marketing and Publicity Department
About Tianjin People's Art Theatre
Founded in 1951, Tianjin People's Art Theatre has thrived for more than 60 glorious years, its predecessor having been the Blood and Iron Drama Club, established in 1938. Tianjin People's Art Theatre is proud of its long history, rich and varied repertoire, as well as its profoundly talented groups of performing artists. Guo Moruo, the famous dramatist inscriptioned the theatre’s name. Directors Zhao Lu, Fang Chen, actor Kong Xiangyu, directors Xu Ruisheng and Zhong Hai, scene designer Wang Weizhong have all successively served as the President of the theatre. Since the establishment of the theatre, a total of 400 productions have been staged, including classical and modern plays from China and foreign countries. Over the past sixty years, works of high quality have been produced one after another and all have been spoken of highly. They have won the Five-One Project Award, the Splendor (Wenhua) Award and the Golden Lion Award for Modern Drama; and have been nominated for the National Theatre Art Fine Work Project and the Outstanding Repertoire for the Exchange, Performance of New Drama Plays. Individual awards include the Plum Performance Award, Splendor (Wenhua) Award, the Golden Lion Award, the Magnolia Prize and so on. Tianjin people's Art Theatre has always adhered to its mission of creating fine art, and strives to keep moving forward!
