Kunqu Opera’s Peony Pavilion is one of the best and most revered plays in China’s operatic history.
But the play is almost inaccessible to many, whether Chinese or foreigners, because the original Ming Dynasty (1368–1644) production by Tan Xianzu had 55 scenes and 403 arias. Productions of the full play in the late 1990s and early 2000s ran to 20 hours. Other truncated versions of the production have appeared in Beijing in recent years running to four hours in length.
So it is to the credit of everyone associated with the Imperial Granary production of The Peony Pavilion, now being performed on Friday and Saturday nights at the Nanxincang Imperial Granary at 22 Dongsishitiao off the Second Ring Road in Beijing, that they have succeeded in boiling the epic down to a sterling 120 minutes (including an intermission) that you are sure to enjoy, whether you know a thing about Chinese opera, Kunqu or The Peony Pavilion. The production’s live music and singing alone, unaided by modern electronics or special effects, are well worth the prices of admission, but the way the play’s narrative and transitions have been written to convey the entire story and its poetry with justice to the original will be appreciated, we think, even by the purist.
And if you have friends coming to Beijing or simply want to sample a great introduction to China’s historic, World Cultural Heritage Listed Kunqu Opera, this is a production to experience. Get to the Internet and read about the play before you go to enhance your experience.
The Peony Pavilion is a love story involving Du Liniang (played by He Zhexing), the daughter of a high official in Jiangxi set against a backdrop of war and intrigue and the Song Dynasty’s (960–1279 AD) defence against the Jin (1115–1234), and Liu Mengmei (Zeng Jie), a young and brilliant scholar, who meet in the world of dreams and metaphysical fantasy, but whose love is based upon real human feelings and passions that will appeal to the romantic of today. The Imperial Granary production focuses on their romance.
He, especially, plays her role with a dreamlike passion that is only heightened by the close proximity between the player and her audience, sometimes as little as a metre's distance in the beautiful, historic Imperial Granary venue. Zeng epitomizes a young man's honest passion and his hopes and dreams in a thoroughly convincing way.
The quality of the opera, directed by Wang Shiyu, is no mistake or accident. Dozens of experts in Kunqu have participated in crafting the production produced by Shao Donghong, including Yu Qiuyu, Lin Zhaohua, Guan Yong, Ma Peiling, Zhang Jiqing, Cai Shaohua, Cai Kun, and dozens of others. Special thanks have been extended by the production to Kunqu experts Gao Made and Gu Duhang. The performance's skilled classical musicians are led by Zhang Jinkui of the Zhejiang Kunqu Opera.
An evening with The Peony Pavilion at the Imperial Granary includes an excellent buffet dining experience in the historic granary’s Music Café, located in a structure that was begun 15 years before it opened in 1420 as one of seven imperial granaries in Beijing under the Ming. Managed by the POLOARTS Entertainment Company, Limited, the Imperial Granary is part of a larger Nanxincang cultural complex that includes fine restaurants, art galleries and night spots. The granary also houses a music shop and book store where fine stationery, chinaware, furniture, craft items and antiques may be purchased.
If you want to amaze your out-of-town clients or spend a beautiful evening alone with your lover, the Imperial Granary's production of The Peony Pavilion may be just what you are looking for.
