'Teahouse' opens Cao Yu Int'l Theater Festival
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E-mail CNTV, March 13, 2014
The first Tianjin Cao Yu International Theatre Festival has kicked off with the classic play "Teahouse." Following this star-studded opener, the festival will feature 14 plays from China, Russia, Germany and Poland in the coming three months.
60 years of a turbulent China, all tucked into a tiny teahouse…
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The first Tianjin Cao Yu International Theatre Festival has kicked off with the classic play "Teahouse." |
The story begins in 1898, and China's last empire, the Qing Dynasty, is crumbling. Behind all the hustle and bustle in the teahouse lurks the surging power that will ignite decades of ruthless social upheaval.
The Teahouse owner, who has witnessed all the twists and turns, is played by Liang Guanhua, a native of Tianjin. He says he's anxious, but also happy to be back on his home stage.
"I've performed ‘Tea House' in Tianjin before. But his time I'm playing the major role and performing in my home town. So I want to do well for audiences in Tianjin," Liang Guanhua said.
"Tea House" was written in 1957 and has long been in the repertoire of the Beijing People's Art Theater. Veteran actor Pu Cunxin has been in the cast of the play many times, but says every time he feels something different.
"Having performed the play for decades, what I feel is that you have to perform with instinct, and forget all the skills you have learned about acting, then you'll feel that it's new. It's not just reinterpreting the classic, but actually feeling it one more time," Pu Cunxin said.
This is the first time for Tianjin to host a theater extravaganza on such a large scale. According to the Tianjin Grand Theater, the organizer of the festival, they spent a year creating a program that combines old and new, foreign and domestic.
"We only wanted to pick the best of the classics. The festival opens and concludes with old and new repertoire from the Beijing People's Art Theater. During the three months, we have 'The Lower Depth' coming for the first time to China from Russia; 'Miss Julie' from Germany, a headliner at last year's Avignon Festival; and ‘Jedermann', the opening play at the Salzburg Festival; as well as 'Persona Marilyn' from Poland. We really have gathered the most outstanding plays from all over the world," said Qian Cheng, president of Tianjin Grand Theater.
Named after the Tianjin born playwright Cao Yu, the festival aims to revive the city's rich theatrical tradition and transform it to a hub that converges arts and culture from all over the world, just like the tea house that brings people together.
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