Review by anonymous
June 08, 2018What I liked
Love its choreography and use of lights and shadows to pave out two tales on one stage. It is a nice try of interwinding ghosts stories that Pu Songling wrote and his own fate through two sets of different body languages.
A poetic and philosophical discussion about the relationship of rules and regulations against creativities. It also asks questions about what gives lives to stories and how they are passed on.
I think this show has presented a dimension of the contemporary Chinese experimental theater. Love the energy it delivers.
What I didn't like
I saw the opening performance and had questions about its ending.
The design made me leave with a lingering question, “whether I’m supposed to feel in trapped just like the scholar was in trapped in his own time and his own world, or not?” The piece has done a lot to unfold different aspects of the relationships between rules and creativities. I’m not sure whether its current ending is the most effective version to enhance the message this piece is trying to deliver and I’d encourage the show’s creator to investigate.
But overall I’m inspired by this show and glad that I can see an authentic Chinese experimental theater piece at the fringe festival.
My overall impression
A contemporary interpretation of the ghosts stories that Pu Songling – a fantasy writer from Ancient China wrote, and his own fate as a scholar who was not favored in his time.
