Reading the masters' minds

Theatre Arts Festival offers classical plays with experimental touch

Regarded as the founding father of experimental theater in China, 82-year-old Lin Zhaohua is one of the few domestic directors to have earned the title "theater master." Now with the 3rd Lin Zhaohua Theatre Arts Festival going on at the Capital Theatre from November 16 to December 10 in Beijing, Lin and two other masters are bringing the classics to capital audiences.

Initiated in 2010, the annual festival is organized by the Lin Zhaohua Theatre Studio. "I just want to introduce quality works each year to more people," said Lin, "and this year, we have invited Pei Yanling and Peter Brook."

Pei is a great artist of traditional Chinese operas. She is versatile at Peking opera, Kunqu opera and local opera styles of Hebei Province, and this is her second time perform at the festival.

Peter Brook, the well-known British theater director, will stage The Suit, one of his most popular plays. Brook himself may come to China.

Presenting the classics

As for Lin, he will again present The Master Builder, which is based on Henrik Ibsen's eponymous play and has been staged over 50 times since its premiere in 2006.

"The Master Builder is in our repertoire; I deeply like Pu Cunxin's acting [in it]," he said. As it was for the first two years' festivals, Lin said the play will continue to be part of the festival.

"I haven't seen any domestic plays for nearly four years, nor have I found any quality screenplays these years," Lin said. Perhaps this is one of the reasons he turned to classic plays.

Completed when Ibsen was 64 years old, The Master Builder is thought to be a self-portrait of the author. The architect depicted in the play faces many emotional dilemmas such as the lure of extramarital affairs and the fear of declining creativity.

"This play requires the audience to have some appreciation for literature and to keep mentally engaged with the actors on stage," said Pu, leading actor in the play, "it displays all that theater does best - enabling actors and audiences to communicate face to face, allowing audiences to feel the breath of the actor and judge what he is thinking or about to do."

Style without classification

Sometimes it's hard for people to penetrate a master's thoughts when you talk to them, but this doesn't hinder us from understanding and being touched by their works.

"I'm bad at rational thinking, and there aren't any rules or regularities binding my plays together," said Lin during an interview with the Global Times, "most of my works are produced out of spontaneity. I can't say in what style they are, but now I think my production ability is declining."

However, Lin and all his works from the early ones like the Warning Signal, The Station and The Savage in the 1980s, to his later ones including Birdman, Chessman, Fisherman and To Live or to Die from the 1990s and 2000s, have consistently attracted attention and classified him as a playwright and producer of experimental theater.

In fact, this year is being commemorated as the 30th anniversary of experimental theater in China marked by Lin's Warning Signals in 1982.

In late September, Lin was awarded the title of "pioneer of experimental theater in China" by the president of Beijing People's Art Theatre, China's flagship art theater where Lin has worked for years.

"The core spirit of experimental theater is that it unites factors like screenplays, directors, actors, and stage settings in a free way, which is something impossible for State-owned theater companies to achieve," according to Lin.

"Now many young people are trying their hands at experimental theater, and this is a good thing since half a loaf is better than no bread," he said, "however, as to the quality of their works, they will naturally improve and adjust with time and the market," he added.

Drawing on tradition

As an exotic product, experimental theaters in China have led many Chinese directors, especially young directors today, to turn to the West for experience. However, according to Lin, to develop China's experimental theater, the best way is to invoke our traditional culture.

"We should have a deep understanding of the aesthetics of our traditional theater. Foreign experiences like those from Stanislavski and Bertolt Brecht can be referenced, but our roots lie in tradition," Lin said, explaining that Pei Yanling's ability to tap into tradition is why he has invited her to perform twice for the festival.

Pei, the 65-year-old president of Hebei Peking Opera Theater, is well-versed in several traditional opera forms as mentioned previously. She is especially good at Peking opera, and although she is female, she especially is fond of playing wusheng, or male characters in Peking operas.

On stage, Pei has played numerous legendary male characters in classic works: Wu Song and Lin Chong, both Wu and Lin are characters from Water Margin; Nezha from Journey to the West; and Zhongkui, a divine god in ancient legends.

"Foreign experiences can't help us produce our own original theater," said Lin. He takes Warning Signal from 1982 as an example. "It was experimentally developed through discussions among many people, not out of some foreign theatrical concept," he said.

For theater lovers in Beijing who would like to peer into the mind of a master, there are still some chances to catch part of this year's theater festival: Antigone, November 23-24; The North of Haidian, November 25-26; and Peter Brook's production of The Suit, December 7-9.