Drama Wangfujing to showcase Beijingers' spirit
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Wangfujing (Part I), a modern drama featuring the capital's well-known commercial street and showcasing the intrinsic spirit of the Beijing people, will be put on stage at the National Centre for the Performing Arts (NCPA) from April 19 to May 3, the theatre announced Tuesday.
The NCPA-produced drama, written by well-known dramatist Zheng Tianwei and directed by Ren Ming, centers on the ups and downs of Ludinghong, a hat store, and covers a time-span of 100 years, from 1910 to 2010, showcasing the vicissitudes of the city. The drama is divided into two parts, the first part ending with the year 1948, one year before the founding of the New China.
Wangfujing Street, an important landmark of Beijing, is not only a witness to Beijing's development but "conveys the spirit of Beijing people: hardworking, passionate, resilient, tolerant and optimistic," said Deng Yijiang, vice-president of NCPA.
By telling stories that happen to Beijing people on a major street, with a profound Beijing flavor, "we want to display the commercial and cultural aspects of the city and the enterprising spirit of Beijing people," Deng added.
Ren, vice-president of Beijing People's Art Theater, has directed nine works themed around Beijing and its people before but said he will adopt a very different style for the new play.
"This is a drama distinguished from all other dramas that tell a story in Beijing," Ren said. "In the past, Wangfujing was a place full of dreams…I blend realism, expressionism and symbolism together in this play to gain the best effects," Ren added. A half-god figure known as the Plaque Guardian is employed and witnesses the changes of every shop, carving their names on his plaque. "The street has a soul, so do the plaques," Ren added.
To better showcase the bustling atmosphere of the city's most famous commercial street, the play will have about 30 scenes and 70 actors on stage, which also poses a challenge for set designer Gao Guangjian, whose recent work for dance drama Marco Polo won much acclaim.
As opposed to other Beijing-themed dramas that take place in a teahouse or a courtyard, the play is set entirely on a street but is meant to tell the story of a whole city, Gao said. To solve the problem, he designed a 360-degree-rotatable stage, which will enable him to employ massive scene transitions and better display the changing face of the city.
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