"Meng Xiaodong" and "July and Ansheng" premiered globally, and the International Theatre Invitation Exhibition of the Performing Arts World came to the International Theatre Invitation Exhibition
On August 8th, the program list for the Shanghai Performing Arts World 2023 International Theatre Invitation Exhibition was announced. Among the 11 exhibited plays, "Meng Xiaodong", "July and Ansheng", and "Silence in a Bloody Wedding" are the world's premieres, 1 play is the Asian premiere, 4 plays are the Chinese premiere, and 3 plays are the Shanghai premiere. From September to the end of the year, these plays will gradually be staged in Chinese theaters.
The opening play of the invitation exhibition is "Miss Bergman" by the French Donkey Troupe, adapted from Bergman's novel "Private Talk". It combines various forms of performance such as drama, dance, and puppetry, showcasing people's struggles and helplessness in emotional relationships from the perspective of a woman who has lost herself in life.
The original stage play "Meng Xiaodong", produced by Shanghai Huangpu Cultural and Tourism Group and written by Yu Rongjun, is scheduled to premiere in early December. Taking historical stories as an opportunity, it recounts the past with real-life scenes from the Chinese Grand Theater. In 1947, famous Peking Opera actor Meng Xiaodong bid farewell to the stage with "Searching for and Saving the Lonely" as his swan song at the Chinese Grand Theater. Meng Xiaodong is also an important symbol of Huangpu Culture and Tourism Group's continuous innovation and exploration in the development layout of the cultural industry.
The original musical "July and Ansheng" in the New Year's Eve season is adapted from the novel of the same name, produced and composed by Jin Peida, directed by Zhou Ke, and written by Fang Wenshan. After successfully being adapted into film and television, this touching story will return to the stage, telling the emotional journey of two young girls from their teenage years to adulthood.
The Spanish drama "Silence in the Blood Wedding" will make its global debut at this year's International Theatre Invitation Exhibition. The drama is adapted from the representative work of Spanish playwright Lorca, "The Blood Wedding", and uses artistic forms such as flamenco dance, theatrical performance, singing, and guitar performance to overcome language limitations.
The 2023 International Theatre Invitation Exhibition also offers many surprises of the collision of Chinese and Western elements. The play "Caligula", which appeared from November 3rd to 5th, is one of the representative works of French writer Albert Camus. It was directed and starred by Jin Shijia, and it is also the first play by the Youguli Theatre Company founded by Jin Shijia. The story revolves around the young emperor Caligula of the Roman Empire, depicting humanity wandering between hope and despair in search of a way to survive, and sparking reflections on contemporary life.
The new music theater work "The Five Elements", brought by the London Production Group, has made its debut in China. With the "Five Elements" in Chinese philosophy as the core, it integrates Chinese ethnic music, opera, electronic music, Western classical music, and multimedia installation art, expanding the aesthetic boundaries of art.
The American monologue "A Generation of Men Who Make Waves" uses light and shadow, comedy, monologue, magic, and other means to lead the audience to "tour" the borders of multiple countries, exploring the issue of fictional border culture and identity intertwining. The American romantic comedy "The Leading Actress" produced by Hangzhou Drama Art Center is written by Ken Ludwig. It tells the story of two male actors attempting to impersonate the lost nephew of a wealthy woman in order to obtain a huge inheritance, only to discover that the heir is two women. They then dress up as women, leading to a series of flawed farces. The play "The Last Promise" by the Department of Drama, Film and Television Art at the School of Literature, Nanjing University is adapted from a Korean work of the same name. It tells the story of a female convenience store employee named Jing Hua who overcomes various difficulties and contradictions in her life and continuously fulfills her promise.
The drama "Bloodthirsty Scratches 3" was produced by a studio that was difficult to satisfy, and it was also the first time in the crime mystery series of "Bloodthirsty Scratches" that it came from space to the theater. The work continues the style of the previous work, presenting crime themes from the perspective of a trace inspection engineer, exploring the complex emotions and motivations hidden in human nature.
The newly edited ancient costume Yu Opera "On the Clear Wind Pavilion" is led by Li Shujian, Vice Chairman of the Chinese Drama Association, and features the unique "Li School" style of the Henan Yu Opera Troupe. It tells the story of the adopted son Jibao's intertwined fate with everyone while searching for his biological parents.
At the opening ceremony of the Drama Invitation Exhibition on the 8th, Wang Yufeng, member of the Standing Committee of the Communist Party of China Huangpu District Committee, Minister of Propaganda Department, and Director of the Office of the Leading Group for the Performing Arts World, revealed that in the first half of 2023, the offline performance market experienced a strong recovery, and the Performing Arts World completed a total of 21943 domestic applications for performances, driving rapid growth in consumption in various fields such as food, accommodation, transportation, tourism, shopping, and entertainment. In the future, the performing arts world will start from three aspects: building an open and inclusive performing arts ecosystem, providing high-quality performing arts content, and improving high-level performing arts services, further strengthening the "dock", activating the "source", and bravely standing at the "forefront".
Tian Qinxin, the President of the National Theatre of China and the Art Director of the Chinese Grand Theatre, stated through a video link that the International Theatre Invitation Exhibition, as one of the three major festivals in the Performing Arts World, is always committed to promoting cultural exchange in drama, and allowing more outstanding premieres and performances to be performed on the stage of the Performing Arts World. She hopes that the world of performing arts can become a brilliant starry sky for theatrical art, and also welcomes more excellent works from both domestic and foreign countries to come to the International Theatre Invitation Exhibition of the World of Performing Arts, using drama to break language barriers, cross cultural boundaries, and evoke deep resonance in people's hearts.
