Section-Chief of Guoguang Opera Company—Dr. U-Hua Chang

1.How did you first entered the path of opera music?
Ans:When I was 10, I entered Fu-Xing Opera School, the specialty school to cultivate actors on Taiwan, and the former of National Taiwan College of Performing Arts.I learned primarily martial art when I was little, and studied 8 years.After that, I went to college and graduate school.I found that studying Chinese opera is a hardship.I once doubt whether it is good or not for me to learn this.Later,I went to the USA to study.Then I felt when the foreigners knew that you learned Chinese opera, they would cast marvelous eyes on you, astonishing that you learned this performing art since such a young age.With such confidence, I finished graduate school and back to Guoguang Opera Company to promote Chinese opera.Now my major task is how to bring the young people to the theater.

2. Please briefly explain the plots audience fond of most currently?
Ans:Traditional or modern theater, it always exists for the audience.Audience belongs to contemporary with age groups.There are old and young, even children audience.Just because our goal is to motivate more young people to the theater, and they are lack of understanding to the background of traditional Chinese opera.We often heard the children said, “we don’t know what they are performing.”For traditional Chinese opera normally doesn’t play an entire story.But to modern people, if I only watch a segment, I did not know the consequences of the story, and what happening.Although the performance is excellent, yet I cannot eject my feelings in.So, we continuously innovate and improve for the newly adopted story can intensify the traditional story and fasten the tempo.More importantly, we may watch a coherent story to let the young and old audience see a complete story, and understand the rich historic story, and the blending of music, dance, performance, costume and makeup.Audience will have a better idea in a short time.

3.Where were the inspirations of works created by the Director of Art?
Ans: Inspiration is to contact as much as possible with modern friends, including children.Theater is existed for the audience.So these years, Guoguang Opera Company did many art education activities, including walking into campus to contact contemporary students of junior and senior high school and colleges.Each semester, we arrange Art Express to let students of Grade 6 to 9 watch Chinese opera.From their watching theater, we may know what kind of performance form they like.For instance, faster in tempo, shorter singing line for singing too long the emotion has been passed, but the actor is still performing his emotion.So we need to contact children more to know the form they like.And by using their way to adopt the plot they like, and their thoughts of liking art.

4. How did you as the Director of Art develop your thoughts to create the play?
Ans:The most important thing for the creation of playwriting,I think, is choosing the subject.Each subject corresponding to different age, people have different likings.In fact, there is a vital element in creation that is to define clearly the subject.For instance, last year we edited a children’s Chinese opera called “Plot in the Scheme of Three Kingdom.”First of all, it is a historic story of Three Kingdom Dynasty.Why such subject?Because these years movie has been popular, such as “Chi Bi”.In fact, children in their life touched the subject, by reading story book or watching film.But the stories of Three Kingdom are lengthy and plenty, and the contents and background of War were complicated.How could children understand?So we picked up a passage that everybody knew, such as straw boat borrowing arrows, that was how Liang Zhu-Ge borrowed east wind to stop Cao Cao.In order to arouse the interest of children, in the opera, in the beginning, we employed modern children playing video games of Three Kingdom, and let the actor suddenly jumped to the circumstances of Three Kingdom to the age of straw boat borrowing arrows, and then let the actor interact with the audience to borrow the arrows from Cao Cao’s soldier boats, which brought a fantastic ending.In fact, modern Chinese opera is not didactic at all.Chinese opera needs to go forward, and it is very important to interact with the audience.Audience is a very important element pushing Chinese opera on ging.So, pupils, you are very important!

5.Since Chinese opera has been developed for a period of time on Taiwan, previously, the Company has launched a series of Taiwan local operas, such as the “trilogy of Taiwan.”Whether this represents the localization of Chinese opera toward Taiwanese Chinese opera?
Ans: In fact, in the process of promotion, there were plenty trials.Why try-out?For instance, audience got less, and young people did not come to theater.We then have to think over how to get the young people walk in to the theater.There is a very important notion in the “Taiwan trilogy.”The origin of Chinese opera is in Beijing of Mainland.Taiwanese often inquiry: what does it have to do with us?With Taiwan?So, in order to cope with audience’s thoughts, we then began to edit stories related to Taiwan.That’s how“Taiwan trilogy” emerged.We chose three subjects.The first is Ma Zu, a very important Godess on Taiwan.Then, Cheng-Gong Zheng and Taiwan, describing Cheng-Gong Zheng stepped back to Taiwan and the constructions he made for Taiwan.Another is Tian-Ding Liao, a figure in the Japanese-ruled Taiwan period, a just thief.Actually, no matter what subject or story, the most important thing is to find touching power in the story.

6.Have you, as Director of Art, occurred difficulties or challenges in creating Chinese opera?
Ans: The form of Chinese opera is unlike the realistic way of movie and TV.You have to employ the staging environment and the specialty features of each actor, to integrate them.There includes wisdom of many people.These may be the development bottleneck.It involves the issue whether Taiwan has the talents or not.How we are going to cultivate local talents?So, we have to crystallize more talents of performing arts: creative, with special thoughts on play, or special aesthetics on staging.The cultivation of these talents, not that you stand on Taiwan and look into it, but rather to find people absorbing cultural arts of both western and oriental.Although Taiwan is small, but we need to look over the world, like for instance, Guoguang goes abroad to perform once or twice each year.Why?Not only because when foreigners coming to Taiwan, they feel we are different, but most importantly, although language is different in the opera, but the foreigners see other difference of Taiwan with other places—a local spirit.This is the most important local performance.This is the very urgency that Taiwan needs to position itself and works harder.

Chinese opera is constantly innovating and changing.

7.Do you consider that Chinese opera should remain the flavor of traditional opera, or rather walk toward modern opera, or combine the two?
Ans: In fact, I felt that there were no conflicts between tradition and modernity.Like we went to see the antiques in the National Palace Museum, because of these antiques were of long history, that’s why they displayed their values.And they are indispensable.Whether the tradition would be conflict with the modern innovation?I don’t think so.Innovation is the idea of modern people, is the thinking and imagination by modern people’s thoughts.Most important, how to develop the traditional value better; therefore, we should package it to portray traditional value to be more distinctive.Thus, both traditional and modern performing arts are important.Modern people’s efforts will let the next generation see the tradition left from today, and continue endlessly.

8.Please briefly explain the future development and your expectation toward Chinese opera?
Ans: The future development of Chinese opera has been said all in our today’s efforts.To the Company, we have developed our own characteristics of Taiwanese Chinese opera.Although Chinese opera was descended from Mainland China, yet it has been developed here on Taiwan for over 50 years.Present Chinese opera actors were cultivated on Taiwan.So we all have Taiwan’s own character, special humanistic art ambience that has developed to our unique image of performing arts.I then consider this as our expectation and our outlook.And I believe we have achieved it.

Reference: interview with Section-Chief Ms.U-Hua Chang of the Guoguang Opera Company
Source of Photos: photograph by research team

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