Theatre Review: The Spirits Play

The last major production for the Kuo Pao Kun Festival 2012 was The Spirits Play - Rituals to Soothe the Unsettled Spirits.  It was in fact 2 versions of The Spirits Play - the first half was directed by Makoto Sato (Za-Koenji Public Theatre, Tokyo) and the second half by Danny Yung (Zuni Icosahedron, Hong Kong). 


 Makoto Sato's version was still faithful to Pao Kun's script, where the main characters of the General, soldier, poet, mother and comfort woman still appeared in the performance.  The combination of Noh and Kun Opera actors worked well, and the "slower" pace of these 2 art forms contributed to the mood and atsmospher of the theme.  At the same time, video designer Naoto Iina provided a contemporary approach to the staging, projecting visual elements of texts and comments onto the screen.  The lighting design by Shigeo Saito was beautiful too.

The second half, to me, was a disappointment.  Here, Danny Yung took liberty of the script and put in his comments on the society, in particular on China and Hong Kong.  The first part was not really comprehensible (or under-rehearsed?), where actors moved in and out with no apparent motives.  Later, the screen will show words reflecting comments on the state of China and Hong Kong.  Well, must he use this occassion to show his stand on things?  He has made his point in 
100 years of Solitude 10.0 - Cultural Revolution at the 2012 Huayi Festival (http://clumsycompass.blogspot.sg/2012/01/huayi-festival-2012.html).  Can't he just move on?

2012 was the 10th anniversary of Kuo Pao Kun's death, and The Theatre Practice has done a good job presenting his works in its original format or through re-interpretations.  While some of them may not succeed, it is good to see how a different generation or different directors recreate his scripts.  Maybe for the next edition, we would get to see some of Kuo Pao Kun's works created in the 1970s.  A relook or re-interpret of his early 1990s works would be interesting too.

Review of

Lao Jiu: The Musical
http://clumsycompass.blogspot.sg/2012/07/lao-jiu-musical.html

Day I Met the Prince
http://clumsycompass.blogspot.sg/2012/09/day-i-met-prince.html


Tell me When to laugh and when to cry (Peter Sau)
http://clumsycompass.blogspot.sg/2012/08/tell-me-when-to-laugh-and-when-to-cry.html