On July 6, two Shakespeare classics, "Hamlet" and "A Midsummer Night's Dream", produced by the National Center for the Performing Arts, successively appeared in the Drama Theater and Green Heart Amphitheater of the Beijing Art Center, marking the 2024 National Center for the Performing Arts International Drama Season. Wonderful opening.
"Zhu Shenghao's Hamlet", the prince and the translator gathered on the stage
html On the afternoon of 06, the National Center for the Performing Arts' production of Shakespeare's classic play "Hamlet" took the lead in the Beijing Art Center. Director Chen Xinyi led Zhao Ling, Wang Wenjie, Sun Lishi, Yang Qi, Dong Wenliang, etc. The original cast of the National Center for the Performing Arts drama troupe made a wonderful appearance. From the perspective of the famous translator Zhu Shenghao, the play reviews the birth of the Chinese translation of Shakespeare's tragic classic "Hamlet". The war-torn Jiangnan courtyard blends wonderfully with the castle of the Danish royal family on the stage. The translator's dilapidated bed is littered with translation manuscripts destroyed by artillery fire. "To survive or to be destroyed, this is a question that cannot be considered." Two great souls met with the sound of Danish horns.
Stills of "Hamlet" (Photo provided by National Center for the Performing Arts)
In the play, Zhao Ling plays the two stage roles of Hamlet and Zhu Shenghao respectively. When this hesitant and worried prince, who is "a giant in thought but a dwarf in action", and the translator who continues to write despite hardships and hardships, and whose "actions speak louder than words" to complete the feat of translating Shakespeare, face the soul-challenging question of "survival or destruction" together. Ask, their respective choices ultimately contrast sharply. The tragic story of "The Revenge of the Prince" is still being performed on the stage, and the "Uncrowned King" Zhu Shenghao also fixed his life at the age of 32, making the world sigh.
From the city-state to the forest, "A Midsummer Night's Dream" bloomed outdoors
In the evening of the same day, the National Center for the Performing Arts' production of the drama "A Midsummer Night's Dream" (Forest Theater Version) opened at sunset, bringing a new outdoor immersive presentation to the audience for the first time. A romantic and joyful night of Shakespeare's comedy for the audience. "A Midsummer Night's Dream" is a repertoire of the National Center for the Performing Arts Drama Troupe. It has gone through eight years and has become a work that has been performed by the NCPA Drama Troupe and has received good box office reviews.
Guan Bo, deputy director and director of the National Center for the Performing Arts, said: "At the end of 2023, the Beijing Art Center affiliated to the National Center for the Performing Arts will officially open. The new positioning of one theater and three locations also requires the creation of unique and unique performances for different audience groups. Targeted new play. Based on the youthful and modern style positioning of the Beijing Art Center and the environmental characteristics of the Forest Theatre, this time "A Midsummer Night's Dream" has been newly revised and created, striving to create a film unique to the Forest Theater. What the young audience loves is Shakespeare's classic comedy, a dream performance full of joy, laughter and romantic love in the hot summer. "
"A Midsummer Night's Dream" stills
"This performance can be said to be true to the natural environment. It is a product of the combination of sex and the virtuality of acting. We made adjustments to the entire play based on the external environment of the amphitheater. The story is still the original classic story, but it has been slightly abridged and compressed,” Guan Bo said. During the performance, the audience in the theater can feel the changes in the sky together with the actors, feel the refreshing breeze, the chirping of birds, and even see the planes flying overhead. This is a place where they are surrounded by nature. A completely open environment, different from the closed space of a theater, will also allow actors to come up with new ideas. Their performance state must be more amplified and more active, including environmental installations and actors' costumes and makeup, which need to be more able to arouse the audience's attention. Interest and attention."
As shown in the motto of "True love has no smooth path" in the play, this is also the core of the stage presentation of the whole play. On the basis of fully combining the characteristics of the Green Heart Amphitheater, the drama "A Midsummer Night's Dream" uses a frame structure to outline the virtual and real scenes of city-states and forests. At the same time, it is combined with the existing pool and other environments on the site to create a performance space that is both real and unreal.As the National Center for the Performing Arts' first outdoor immersive drama performance, the creators of the show use the rich possibilities brought by open space to enhance interaction and visual spectacle, bringing the audience an unprecedented theatrical experience that cannot be provided in a closed space. It is also in line with Shakespeare's works. The descriptions of time and space from day to moonlight, from city-state to forest are consistent. As the plot progressed, the atmosphere of the performance gradually reached a climax. The audience was infected by the actors' full-throated performances and immersed in a relaxed and dreamy midsummer night.
"Seeing the World in Beijing", Isabelle Huppert will come to China to star in "The Glass Menagerie"
With the successful premiere of two Shakespeare classics, the 2024 National Center for the Performing Arts International Drama Season officially kicked off. This drama season lasts for 154 days, spanning 6 months, and a series of exciting performances will be staged one after another.
In addition to Shakespeare's classics, the "Seeing the World in Beijing" section of this international drama season will also feature dramas adapted from Leo Tolstoy, Victor Hugo, Tennessee Williams, t· S. Eliot, as well as dramatic works by famous Chinese and foreign literary figures such as Lao She, Li Ao, and Liu Zhenyun. From July 17th to 19th, the "all-male class" drama "Camel Xiangzi" directed by director Fang Xu will be staged. It is particularly worth mentioning that from December 4th to 6th this year, the play "The Glass Menagerie" directed by Ivo van Hove will appear at the National Center for the Performing Arts as the finale of the theater season. The French actress Isabelle Huppert plays the leading role, once again playing the role of a "neurotic" who struggles to find herself within the constraints of reality, which is undoubtedly highly anticipated by the audience.
"Seeing the World in Beijing" section directory
In addition, the "Chinese Opera·Chinese Love" section will also meet the audience in August. Wang Peiyu, Wang Yue, Tian Hui, Yu Jiulin, Shen Fengying, Shi Yihong, Wei Haimin, Hu Wenge, Zhang Huifang, Famous opera masters such as Zhang Xinyue, Li Hongyan, and Dou Xiaoxuan will take the stage one after another. The newly presented art categories of this drama season - mime and musicals will make a shocking debut in September. Famous troupes from the United Kingdom, Switzerland, Russia and other places will bring their masterpieces to the theater appointment with theater fans.
