Drama of Han Dynasty poet to be restaged
- Source: Global Times
- [17:25 March 29 2011]
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A scene from Cai Wenji.
By Jiang Yuxia
Cai Wenji, a classic drama portraying the tragic fate of the eponymous Cai, one of the few celebrated female poets in ancient China, is to be staged late April for the fourth time since its debut in 1959.
The five-act drama, written by renowned Chinese playwright Guo Moruo, has become one of the representative works of the Beijing People's Art Theatre, and known for its combining of theater with traditional xiqu, or Chinese opera, a popular form of dramatic and musical theatre.
While paying tribute to the legacy of the first, the new version, running from April 26 to May 8, will give the piece a faster rhythm and make adjustments to the lighting and music to make it more appealing to audiences nowadays, said director Tang Ye.
In the plot, Cai, born to an intellectual family in late Eastern Han Dynasty (25-220 AD), is forced to marry a nomadic tribal king after being captured. Twelve years later, Cao Cao, a famous warlord, pays a handsome ransom to return her.
She leaves her husband and two sons and returns to her hometown, where she fulfills her father's wish by completing the History of the Later Han Dynasty. Her biggest achievement is the composition of the Eighteen Beats of Hujia (Chinese zither), a touching melody onthe zither in the form of folk ballad and associated with the sound rhyme of hujia.
To bring the characters alive, the actors are now taking courses in Chinese history and xiqu. Yu Mingjia, who plays the heroine, is also taking courses in kunqu to better prepare herself for the singing of Eighteen Beats of Hujia.
The most important thing is to "bring the feelings of [Cai] to the audience, to have them experience the state of mind of the character and the setting of the story," said Yu.
