2022 National Taichung Theater Fall for Great Souls

2022 NTT Fall for Great Souls © National Taichung Theater

What if… classics aren’t how you remember them?

This year, National Taichung Theater’s Fall for Great Souls, with its goal of bringing renowned masters and classics to the audience revives popular pieces from the past and introduces new productions based on timeless stories. As one of the three national-level performing arts organisations in Taiwan, NTT is located at the center of the island, and comprises of the Grand Theatre, Playhouse, Black Box Theatre and unconventional performing spaces. The process of establishing revivals provides rooms for rethinking contemporary social values of today, and at the same time, appreciating the opportunity of witnessing contemporary virtuosi on stage. NTT audience’s favourite Tannhäuser by Richard Wagner last year brings back the A team for another trip of love and lust. Classic Taiwanese Opera Han Xiang Zi from 18 years ago by the Ming Hwa Yuan Arts & Cultural Group will star SUN Tsui-feng as the male lead in the title role; meanwhile Tang Mei Yun Taiwanese Opera Company invites TANG Mei-yun with Peking opera star TANG Wen-hua in its new production, Royal Feast of the Underworld, to celebrate the group’s 25^th anniversary. Globally famous Akram Khan Company joins the fall exclusively at the NTT with Jungle Book reimagined that premiered earlier this year, retelling Kipling’s original bildungsroman through the perspective of today’s climate crisis; while local Taiwanese performing arts group Shinehouse Theatre presents To the Warriors!, an adaption from HUANG Chun-ming’s book, describing four men from Rukai family of the Kucapungane tribe in Pingtung that were conscripted by the Japanese, Communist and Nationalist armies at war in order to defend their people. Classic stories also include century-old tales, such as the inspiration for Water Ghosts’ Theatre, based on Chiayi puppet troupe in Lu Ku Gou and produced by Taipei Puppet Theater; memorable films like A Chinese Ghost Story provides creative foundation for Love & Samsara, co-produced by Zhen Yun Lin Ge Puppet Theater ╳ Theatre Ronin (H.K.). Briefly concluded, “Classics Freshly Interpretated” can be seen throughout the line of thrilling productions for 2022 NTT Fall for Great Souls.

Legend Lin Dance Theatre Song of Pensive Beholding

Song of Pensive Beholding ©Legend Lin Dance Theatre

As the first programme of NTT’s Fall for Great Souls, Legend Lin Dance Theatre opens the season with its latest piece Song of Pensive Beholding, completing the mythic trilogy of Artistic Director LIN Lee-chen’s tribute to “Heaven, Earth, Man.” The trilogy premiered back in 2009, and it took nine years of steady preparation for the long-awaited final work to be ready on stage, following Miroirs de Vie and Hymne aux Fleurs qui Passent. Performed with unique ritual-like and meditative aesthetics, the mythical story of a white bird and eagles mirrors the essence of spirit, revealing desire and human nature, as well as caring for the nature of the land. Through sacred body language and caring, Artistic Director LIN wishes blessings for all tangible and intangible beings in Taiwan, to heal and to gain strength in the haze of the pandemic.

Artistic Director LIN Lee-chen

Artistic Director of Legend Lin Dance Theatre and the acclaimed “genius choreographer in Taiwan’s dance scene,” LIN Lee-chen was named one of the most significant choreographers in the world by ARTE in 2002, as the only Asian on the list that year. Founded in 1995, Legend Lin Dance Theatre has performed internationally through many years, gaining great reviews. LIN’s now four dance pieces accumulate decades of her experiences. The style of her practice blends elements of religious rituals, traditional Taiwan rites, and meditative vision.

LIN Lee-chen ©金成財CHIN Cheng-tsai

Our Theatre ft. YEUNG Fai The Prawning Decameron

The Prawning Decameron ©Our Theatre

A modern retake of Boccaccio’s Decameron, a group of people spend ten days quarantined in a prawning restaurant complex in the suburbs of Chiayi, Taiwan. Our Theatre adapts the original “human comedy”, setting the scene with modern crisis of the COVID-19 pandemic, and adding popular common elements into the style of storytelling, such as glove puppets, rock music and acrobatics. First time partnering with puppetry master YEUNG Fai and a team of star Taiwanese glove puppeteer, the collaboration fishes the absurdity of humanity when isolation makes one forget “social distancing.”

Director & Leading Performer YEUNG Fai

Born from a family of famous glove puppeteers in Zhangzhou, Fujian, China, 1964, YEUNG Fai started his performing career since the late 1980s, travelled the world with puppetry skills, and finally moved to France in 2001. YEUNG now teaches at ll’École Nationale Supérieure des Arts de la Marionnette in Charleville-Mézières, France, occasionally giving master classes in German, Spain, Russia, Italy, Poland, Brazil, Israel, and Australia.

YEUNG Fai ©黃煚哲 HUANG Jiong-che

Die Zauberflöte by W.A. Mozart

Die Zauberflöte ©寺司正彦 TERASHI Masahiko

Last but not least, as the finale of NTT’s Fall for Great Souls season, the most highly requested piece by NTT’s fans, Die Zauberflöte is a fantasy adventure of Prince Tamino, with a quest of rescuing Princess Pamina and restoring the order of day and night. NTT brings in a celebrated production by South African Master of Arts, William Kentridge. With charcoal animation and intriguing utilisation of photography and video, the artist’s first attempt into opera cleverly evokes the tragedy of colonialism under the shadow of the utopian ideals of the Age of Enlightenment. The production will also feature world famous opera conductor Darrell ANG, accompanied by National Symphony Orchestra (NSO) and talented Taiwanese opera singers.

Stage Director & Set Design William Kentridge

Recipient of honorary doctorates from several universities including Yale and the University of London, William Kentridge is regarded as one of the most prominent contemporary artists today. With his works across mediums of drawing, writing, film, music, theatre and collaborative practices, Kentridge’s feature is the signature charcoal animation, discussing historical issues through creative ways. With opera productions, aside from Die Zauberflöte, Kentridge has also worked with Shostakovich’s The Nose, and Alban Berg’s operas Lulu and Wozzeck.

William Kentridge ©Norbert Miguletz