Wan Pei Lin/ Taichung
The theme of “The Fall for Great souls” which is the main program of National Taichung Theatre this year is “Along with the fearless artistic spirits.” NTT invites ten files of music, dancing, dramas and traditional operas from seven countries to perform from October 10th to December 9th. Director Yuan Qiu indicates that inside theatre, artists fearlessly manifest their special point of view to the world and refuse to be indifferent with others; they redefine the stereotype of beauty. On August 1st, NTT has already began allowing their members to purchase tickets for “The Fall for Great Souls” series of performances in advance. It will start selling to the public on August 8th.
One of the masterpieces of all times, Siegfried, is also included in the “Fall for Great Souls” series. Siegfried is the third of the four music dramas that constitute The Ring of the Nibelung, by Richard Wagner. In this his discusses about the adventures of an intrepid young man Siegfried. The director of Siegfried, Carlus Padrissa, and his team, La Fura dels Baus, are famous for their futuristic 3D stage effects. In addition to the giant machinery and the special effects on performers, according to the plots, they will add the birds in the forest and the giant mechanical dragon as the new characters for Siegfried. The National Symphony Orchestra will play for Siegfried, the most difficult but also the most splendid dream of Richard Wagner.
This year The Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra and their chief conductors, Mariss Jansons, will also come to National Taichung Theatre for “Fall for Great Souls” series. They are going to perform Symphony No.7 by Antonin Dvorak and The Rite of Spring by Igor Stravinsky. Furthermore, The Rite of Spring is regarded as one of the most challenging songs in the world, which means that people can see just how good this orchestra is, based on how well they perform the song. In order to fit the sound effects of theater, chief director, Mariss Jansons especially chooses these two classics for NTT.
In addition, there are three world-renowned Asian choreographers who are also included in “Fall for Great Souls” series, this will bring us three delicate dancing performances: Cloud Gate, The 45th Anniversary Gala Program. This time, Cloud Gate will feature the highlights of 9 classics during these 45 glorious years and will lead the audiences to look back on the legendary journey of their retiring artistic director and also one of the most important choreographers in Taiwan, Lin Hwai-Min.
The Taiwanese choreographer Mei Hong Lin, who has astonished Europe, having revised two dances The Little Mermaid and The Birthday of the Infant from the classical fairy tales. Showing the dark side of fairy tales which exists in the reality, containing beautiful dance steps, the two dances demonstrate the opposite of beauty and the cruelty of humanity, which strikes at people’s mind a lot. In this year, The National Taichung Theater will bring the audiences two productions ,one of them is “5” which is performed by five brilliant dancers and the other is “9” which produces a sense of movement by the continual dance of nine dancers. “9” is the product of The National Taichung Theater and other theaters from Europe, Australia and Asia, it will get to premiere in Taiwan in The National Taichung Theater.
In the second half of the year, “Fall for Great Soul” series bring us three bold and innovative dramas, which discuss the tasks of conscience and life with a special angle of thought. Such as the drama État de siège, which is brought by the famous French director Emmanuel Demarcy-Mota and Théâtre de la Ville, it was adapted from Albert Camus’s script. The gifted artist Romeo Castellucci has been highly scrutinized due to his unique directing skill and his special aesthetics in theater, and this time he will bring us Democracy in America to describe the foundation of the United State. Mr. Wing Theatre will perform Pica Pica Choose which has a different genre from the dramas which they have performed before.
In the traditional drama part, The National Taichung Theater invited Ming Hwa Yuan Arts & Cultural Group to perform Revenge of the Prince: The Dragon Rises & The End of Revenge, which is the first time for them to show the full version in The National Taichung Theater. The Hsu Yafen Taiwanese Opera Troupe will bring us The Soul Switch and Justice Bao which is a challenge for sheng and dan to switch between two characters. Although The Soul Switch and Justice Bao was adapted from the old traditional drama, the combination of ballet , long sleeves and other modern elements is so great that it will suit modern audiences’ taste.
