Wednesday 1 February 2012

Huayi Festival 2012


Attended my first event, the chinese version of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? 谁怕吴尔芙? written by Edward Albee and performed by 4 local actors and directed by Nelson Chia.  The main attraction for me would be the actors, especially Johnny Ng and Leanne Ong, the latter whose performance I haven't seen in a while.  Realistic set, good directing, and the ensemble has good chemistry.  The chinese translation was good, which enabled the actors to deliver the lines smoothly.    A good start for our local theatre scene.  ...but can we have a better production poster?





I had high expectations for Stan Lai's Crosstalk Travellers 那一夜在旅途中说相声 (Taiwan).  Sadly, while the performance is strong on laughs, it is lacking in depth.  Unlike in the past productions that use the skits to dig at politics and social situation in Taiwan, this production is more variety show like.  The cast however is still strong.







Once in a while we had a show whereby audience had high expectations but in the ended, had them divided on opinion. The show, 100 years of Solitude 10.0 - Cultural Revolution, featured 12 active actors from the Chinese theatre scene and do not require them to speak.  Getting actors and other art school students to run from one side of the stage to another, waving a one cloth, or holding a box.  Are there any new way to represent the Cultural Revolution?  I found it pretentious and self-absorbing.  Agreed with someone in the audience who shouted during a scene change -"The Emperor did not wear any clothes".


At one of the evenings, there was performance of Cantonese opera excerpts.

Considering that they are amateurs, it was a good effort.









































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