Monday, April 10, 2006
I begin watching my maiden artistic show in Sydney with “Raise the Red Lantern” presented by National Ballet of China on 2 April 2006!! It’s been some time since I watched another of this arty farty shows as what Pei e would like to command….heh….I’m back to watching these kind of shows alone..L without my kaki Pei e…anyway…she would help me watch my share of the shows back home by updating me and buying cds for me!!
The ballet was held at Capitol Theatre along Hay Street, that’s near to Chinatown, a place that I’m familiar with. I was entering and the place looks dim but kind of grand with red carpets, chandeliers, design something like the one in Jubilee Hall. And how can I walk off without a cd and programme in hand? It’s kind of a routine that I usually get myself these items for remembrance.
When I went in, it was slightly shocking because of the elaborate designs inside the theatre. The sides of the theatre were decorated with life size stone curved statues standing in archways. I wasn’t sure whether they are really stone statues, might even be just plastic replicas. Those statues kind of remind you of those Greek stone statues in the early Olympic days. The aisles are intricately carved to European design. The ceiling was drench in dark hues of blue with bright lights that resemble stars. There on the stage hang red lanterns in rows of 3 from the top to bottom of the stage. The lights dim and fade into darkness while the audience hushed up for the opening segment of the show.
The red lanterns were lighted up and disappeared to reveal a girl carrying a suitcase who had to face her destiny of marrying into the rich family. Before this girl was forced into the palanquin, she danced in despair with her lover, a Peking Opera actor.
The wife and first concubine welcome the second concubine with conflicting emotions. There are 2 distinct groups of dancers who dress in similar colour custumes to match their “mistresses”, one in green and yellow. They danced in sync with their mistreses in different formations leaving myriad of colours in their costumes. Their qipao inspired costumes provided much freedom for the ballerinas to display their elegant performance.
The second concubine meets her prospective husband and wives with them attempting to distract their husband from their new “sister”. All was to avail as the dance between the husband and second concubine gets pretty interesting. The lead female dancer was trying to escape from her husband’s advances by pulling and tearing away from him while he cleverly uses his red wedding ribbon ball to catch her in her attempt. She continued to run behind a screen. The audience was treated to a dance in the form of shadows and finally the dancers jump through the screens only to be subdued by the male dancer at the end.
The Master and 3 wives hired a group of actors to put up a Peking Opera to entertain the family. And much to the second concubine’s surprise, her lover was one of the actors hired. The pair danced with jubilation only to be spotted by the cunning first concubine.
The actor was invited for mahjong sessions with the family. And this scene had created laughs among Chinese as they the dancers were shouting “Hu ar” during the segment, which was an expression when one, wins the game. The dancers were doing sweeping motions on the tables to signify washing of the tiles together with the sound effects from the abacus that created an effect as if a game was going on. Dancers dance around the tables decorated with different pictures of mahjong tiles and slowly get a winning combination by arranging the tables in a row. The second concubine and lover went on a rendezvous only to be found by the first concubine, who can’t wait to expose the affair to the master. In a fit of anger, the first concubine use master’s lighting stick to light up the read lanterns and broke the house rules set by the master. And the master ordered for both second and third concubines plus the lover their execution and finally everyone patched up their differences and recognizes their mistakes.
Even though there’s no dialogue, the ballet was able to project a fluidity of emotions through body motion and expression. It’s not at boring one will think.
Dreams never come true
10:24 pm
|
(Music background)
