20 Monday, July 23, 2018 LIFE CHINA DAILY HONG KONG EDITION Stage sirens take THEATER TREATS to the silver screen

By CHEN NAN Long March, says that unlike most opera performances in The National Centre for the theaters, the film production IN THE CAPITAL Performing Arts’ Internation­ gives the opera a more “cine­ al Opera Film Exhibition will matic” look and requires the take place at 17 cinemas in 10 actors to modify their per­ Chinese cities — including Bei­ formances and look at the jing, Dalian, Shanghai, cameras rather than the con­ Hangzhou and Chengdu — ductor or audience. from Aug 4 to Oct 13, and will “For the audience, it’s a dif­ see 265 screenings of 13 opera ferent way of appreciating the film productions by four of the art form, which is easier,” world’s leading theater com­ Wang says. panies. The upcoming exhibition The NCPA’s 2015 production also invited the Metropolitan of Giuseppe Verdi’s opera Opera, the Royal Opera House Simon Boccanegra, which was and the Teatro Real to show­ conducted by Chun Myung­ case their opera film produc­ Whun and features Placido tions. Domingo, will open the exhi­ Lucia di Lammermoor, bition. Donizetti’s tragic masterpiece, The NCPA initiated the and Francesco Cilea’s tragic opera film project in 2013 and opera Adriana Lecouvreur, of the 76 operas the NCPA has both by the Royal Opera produced since it opened in House, will be screened in Chi­ 2007, nearly 30 have been na for the first time. turned into opera films. Two works by the Metropol­ Audiences will be able to itan Opera, The Pearl Fishers watch another three opera by French composer Georges films produced by the NCPA, Bizet and The Sleepwalker by including the musical drama Italian composer Vincenzo After touring the country over the past two years, the play Three Comedies returns to Beijing and is being staged at the Beijing People’s Art Theatre through Aug 6. The Beautiful Blue Danube — Bellini, which were screened The Story of Johann Strauss’ at last year’s exhibition will PHOTOS PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY 1872 US Tour based on the return to China this summer. composer’s visit to the United The Teatro Real, the Span­ States in the late 19th century; ish opera house that was Three Comedies by Ding Xilin is part of a Beijing theater festival, that will see 20 The Long March, a work based founded in Madrid in 1818, on the two­year tactical retreat will bring Puccini’s Madama original Chinese plays performed between Aug 1 and Sept 1, Chen Nan reports. of the Red Army to evade Butterfly and Verdi’s La Travi­ Kuomintang forces in 1934, ata, two of the world’s most bout two decades and the Peking Opera film, You widely staged operas. ago, when Ban and Me. “It has become a hot trend Zan was a student According to Zhao Jiachen, to watch opera films at the cin­ at the Central vice­president of the NCPA, ema in recent years. Opera Academy of Drama, one of hisA the International Opera Film films have undoubtedly favorite playwrights was Ding Exhibition has brought nearly become an important way to Xilin (1893­1974). The 500 screenings to 10 Chinese link the theater with its audi­ renowned playwright’s major cities since 2016, attracting a ence and to enlarge their mar­ works were written between total audience of around ket influence,” says music 1923 and 1940 and concen­ 380,000 people. critic Wang Jiyan, who intro­ trate on comedy. “Theaters worldwide are duces the opera films to the “I was amused by the using more alternative con­ audiences before they are humorous dialogue, which is tent, such as opera films, to screened. witty and implicit. That appeal to customers. So, com­ Joint organizers of the exhibi­ unique way of being humor­ bining the latest technology tion, Broadway Cinemas, are ous, I believe, belongs to the with opera is a great way to offering various forms of set­ Chinese people,” says the attract audiences,” says Zhao. stamp purchase, which will 40­year­old actor­turned­di­ Tenor Wang Haitao, who allow opera fans to watch the rector Ban, who joined Bei­ plays a commander in the films for the affordable price jing People’s Art Theatre after NCPA’s production of The between 50 ($7.4) and 100 yuan. he graduated in 2003. Since then, Ban has played roles in plays, such as Tea­ house and The Top Restau­ rant. In 2016, Ban, who also has starred in movies and TV dra­ mas, chose three one­act com­ edies by the playwright and adapted then into a play. The work, entitled Three drama of the 1920s, and he Comedies by Ding Xilin, still inspires people work­ which premiered in Beijing in ing in theater and audien­ April 2016, tells three stories ces.” — A Wasp, After Drinking Three Comedies by Ding and Blind in One Eye. Xilin is part of the 2018 Story In the play, three actors in Beijing, a theater festival, from Beijing People’s Art The­ which features 20 original atre perform nine roles. Chinese plays and runs Now, after touring the between Aug 1 and Sept 1. country for the past two years, The highlights include a the play returns to Beijing and romantic play, Love is Brave, is being staged at the Beijing which has been staged more People’s Art Theatre through than 3,500 times since its Aug 6. premiere in 2015; Kunqu “The three comedies by Opera Epiphyllum by the Ding showcase different sta­ Northern Kunqu Opera The­ ges of romance: young lovers, ater; and a tragic play, Injus­ newlyweds and elderly cou­ tice to Tou O, directed by Ding ples,” says Ban, who made his Yiteng and based on Dou E directorial debut in 2015. Yuan, a Chinese play written “I have been married for by Guan Hanqing nearly eight years, and when I (1241—1320) during the Yuan read the three comedies with The three comedies by Ding Dynasty (1271­1368). my wife, we both relate to According to Guo Zhuqing them and want to share them showcase different stages of from the Beijing Municipal with the audience. Bureau of Culture, the orga­ “Ding’s comedies are easy romance: young lovers, newlyweds nizer of the theater festival, to understand and the plots the 20 plays will be staged at are simple. So, watching his and elderly couples.” small theater venues in the comedies, you get a wonder­ capital: The Star Theater, Bei­ ful taste that lingers,” says Ban Zan jing National Pioneer Theater Ban. actor­turned­director and the Tianqiao Performing Ding, who was born in Taix­ Arts Center. ing, in Jiangsu province, grad­ “The scope for plays created uated from the University of 1924 to 1926, he was the dean Then, in 1925, he published comedies were written in the for smaller theaters is grow­ Birmingham, in the United of the physics department After Drinking, which was 1920s and 1930s, they still ing fast in China. We’ve seen a Kingdom, with a master’s there. inspired by Ding’s friend Ling connect with a contemporary big spurt of creativity and degree in physics. As a playwright, Ding pub­ Shuhua’s novel with the same audience. originality from Chinese thea­ During his stay in the UK, lished 10 works. title and follows a newlywed “We fall in love, get married ter artists,” says Guo, adding Ding became interested in In 1923, he published his couple who get drunk. and deal with being a hus­ that since the theater festival theater and started writing first comedy, A Wasp, which Blind in One Eye, written in band, wife, father­in­law and was born seven years ago, 110 plays. tells the story of two young 1927, portrays an old couple’s mother­in­law. plays have been staged. The NCPA’s production of Giuseppe Verdi’s opera Simon Boccane­ In 1919, after returning to lovers, whose relationship reflections on their marriage. “The language pioneered gra, which was conducted by Chun Myung­Whun and featured Plac­ China, Ding taught physics at was objected by the young Speaking about the plays, by Ding became a defining Contact the writer at ido Domingo, will open the International Opera Film Exhibition. Peking University, and from man’s mother. Ban says: “Though the three characteristic of spoken [email protected] PHOTOS PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY