Staging a revival

Reviving Kunqu

Also searching for ways to innovate upon traditional opera, another young director, Hu Hanchi, brought Fanqiuzhuji to Daliangshan under the English name, A Commander's Introspection. It was also staged at this year's Festival OFF d'Avignon in France.

Fanqiuzhuji is a Chinese idiom that literally means seeking the cause in oneself.

The play is a Kunqu Opera rendition of a story about an ancient commander, who has a self-reflective premonition of failure on the battlefield.

Those responsible for the play are particularly young. Most of the crew were born in the 1980s and 1990s.

"We want to explore the traditional Chinese story with the addition of a traditional Chinese way of expression in an experimental-theater scenario," Hu says.

Hu adds that they want to explore new ideas and approaches for traditional Chinese operas, particularly Kunqu Opera-one of the oldest opera genres in China. It boasts over 600 years of history and was listed among the first batch of UNESCO's Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity in 2001.

According to Hu, the performance during the Daliangshan festival is already its sixth revision since the play produced by the Northern Kunqu Opera Theatre premiered in France in July.

"We are constantly changing the performance to make it richer and more interesting, and injecting it with new elements, such as physical theater," says Hu.