Witnessing the New Appearance of Taiwan Bangzi Opera

Section Chief Wang of the Promotion Division of the National Taiwan College of Performing Arts, said that although the Taiwan Bangzi Opera was established not long ago, in order to attract more people to appreciate Bangzi Opera art, the Company has made changes in a variety of innovative ways, from stage layout, costumes, lighting and music effects to the integration of multimedia technology, which makes opera art more interesting, creates a more contemporary and audience-friendly opera effect and enables more people to understand and love traditional opera art through appreciation of opera. Therefore, starting from the establishment, the Company has been trying to seek innovation and changes. For example, Taiwan Bangzi Opera Company launched “Bangzi Girl” in the form of a stage play and invited Xiao-Ping Lee, a director who straddles modern and traditional styles, as the director of the play. The play, “Marriage of the Witch,” is based on themes rarely seen in operas, such as witches and frontiers. This play is jointly created by Chun-Fang Tai and screenwriter Ju-Fang Shih, who both come from modern theater and challenge the theme of female sexual desire. This play is inspired by the novel “Widow’s Peak” written by writer Chung-Ling Wang, and directed by film director Cheng-Sheng Lin, who was invited to be the director. Cheng-Sheng Lin, who directs a traditional opera for the first time, incorporates his film experiences into Bangzi Opera to convert stage into vibrant scenes and break through tradition.

Traditional opera undergoes innovation and transforms into “New Bangzi Opera” to expand audience market

The operas produced by Taiwan Bangzi Opera Company in recent years are different from traditional opera styles, which enables more people to witness the various possibilities of opera development. In terms of scripts, new screenwriters are presenting new plot content, such as the cross-cultural “Bangzi & Shakespear Opera.” The so-called “Bangzi & Shakespear Opera” is a combination of traditional Chinese Bangzi Opera and Western classic Shakespearean plays. The two types of opera are adapted from the fundamental language, structure, and plot, and eventually presented in a localized form. The play “Questions for the Heaven” is adapted from “King Lear”, one of William Shakespeare’s four great tragedies. The interesting part is that after the protagonist King Lear switched to traditional Chinese opera, he transformed into the Queen He-La Bin of Xuanyuan Kingdom, a fictional dynasty.

The first play, “Constraint,” is adapted from Shakespeare’s play “The Merchant of Venice”; the second play, “Measurement,” is adapted from Shakespeare's play “Measure for Measure”, which was performed in 2012; “Questions for the Heaven” is adapted from “King Lear”, one of Shakespeare's four great tragedies. In addition to switching the gender of King Lear, the time and space of “Questions for the Heaven” are also transplanted to the hunting tribe, but the overall structure still maintains the original plot. Moreover, “Questions for the Heaven” also incorporates a wave of feminist thought and uses female rights as a symbol of female dominance.

Taiwan Bangzi Opera Company’s newly adapted Bangzi Opera not only adapts Western plots but also integrates the stage of modern Western theater into Bangzi Opera. In the aspect of performance techniques, this opera attempts to retain the original four skills and five methods of traditional Chinese opera, so that each character’s singing, reciting, acting and fighting are consistent with the performance of Bangzi Opera. Therefore, the stage performance that the audience appreciate is indeed the performance form, instruments and singing style of Bangzi Opera. However, the content presents a “new Bangzi Opera” that combines tradition and modernity, which is refreshing.

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