All This and Martial Arts Too
Spectacular Peking opera comes to Dickinson
by MaryAlice Bitts-Jackson
The dramatic music is just part of the appeal. With its stylized blend of music, storytelling, choreography, martial arts, acrobatics, and dramatic costume and makeup, the Chinese national art form of Peking opera packs a powerfully entertaining punch.
For the first time, audiences can experience Peking opera right here on campus. Performers from the Philadelphia Chinese Opera Society will present sections of famous operas Saturday, March 26, at 7:30 p.m. in Mathers Theatre, accompanied by live music, with English translations of Chinese text. Admission is free, and all are welcome to attend.
Peking opera is said to date back to 1720—that’s young, by Chinese standards—when four operatic troupes got together in Beijing to celebrate the emperor’s 80th birthday in grand style. It was inscribed on UNESCO’s Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2010.
While the performances tap a spectacular artistic tradition, they also educate, imparting stories about Chinese history, politics, society and daily life, past and contemporary. Those stories are told by a combination of characters; the four major characters are sheng (male), dan (female, once exclusively portrayed by men), jing (painted-face man) and chou (jester, or clown).
Those who attend the Saturday performance will see all four of these main characters in action, and in several variants—the warrior man, the flirtatious young woman, the male and female sword-fighters and so on. While the performers will sing and speak in Chinese, line-by-line translations will be projected on a large screen, and English-language summaries of each excerpt will be included in every program.
“That’s important, because we wanted the performance to be fully accessible to everyone, so everyone should be sure to get a program” says Rae Yang, professor of Chinese language and literature in the Department of East Asian Studies, which is co-sponsoring the event, along with the Department of Theatre & Dance. “And when all of the programs are given out, that means that all of the seats are taken, so be sure to get there early.”
The Peking opera will be presented in Mathers Theatre (Holland Union Building) Saturday, March 26, at 7:30 p.m. Admission is free, and all are welcome to attend. Doors open at 7 p.m.
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Published March 23, 2016