Comedy, suspense, and tragedy interweave into a "piano concerto", premiering in the "Capone Trilogy"
"Whether you want to watch a comedy to relax after work, or a tragic and romantic love story, or a hardcore revenge mystery, the audience can find the answer in the trilogy," said director Xu Zidong. On September 1st, the play "Capone Trilogy" premiered at the Shanghai Theatre Art Center. One week before its premiere, all episodes of the play were sold out.
Stills of the Capone Trilogy
The Capone Trilogy is adapted from the history of Chicago being occupied by gang leader Al Capone in the 20th century. It revolves around three cases that occurred in room 661 of the Lexington Hotel in Chicago, showcasing the absurdity, complexity, and danger of Chicago at that time. The drama was written by Jamie Wilkes and co conceived by Jesse Compton. The Chinese version is starring Shen Lei, Gong Xiao, Zhou Quan, Mai Zi, and Zu Yongchen.
Each story in the Capone Trilogy takes around 60-70 minutes. There is a 15 minute halftime between the two stories. Three chapters are watched independently, with repeated clues and familiar details constantly stimulating the audience's memory, making them more curious about the overall story.
There is a line in the play that goes, "Danger always repeats itself in the same place," which is room 661 Lexington. The small theater space is centered around this room, and a single scene is cleverly transformed through sound effects, lighting, and prop adjustments. From a small room to the entire city, from exquisite and charming to perilous, and then to dilapidated and decadent, it is perfectly presented in the trilogy.
The Capone Trilogy has been adapted into a Chinese version for the first time, continuing the original model where three actors played the main role in one of the trilogy and multiple roles in the other two. From absurd comedy to heart rate suspense dramas, and then to revenge tragedies, actors constantly switch their "tones" in the trilogy. Actors may appear as comical clowns in the first installment, transform into destitute avengers in the third installment, become victims of gang struggles in the second installment, and become key figures in creating layers of twists and turns in the third installment.
Stills of the Capone Trilogy
In Xu Zidong's view, the script of "The Capone Trilogy" is full of energy, with a high density of lines and the frequency and concentration of actors switching roles. The actors are satisfied with the performance, and the audience is also satisfied with it. "The Capone Trilogy is somewhat like a piano concerto with three movements, each with different emotional colors and concentrations, expressing a small theme. When combined, it harmoniously reflects a big theme."
After the premiere of the drama, the audience commented, "I didn't expect to see a combination of hilarious comedy and lamentable tragedies all night", "It's like traveling into Chicago in the last century", "I bought tickets for the actors and enjoyed watching them very much".
