| Fri, Sept 15, 7 pm | 
 | | Sat, Sept 16, 7 pm |
| | Sun, Sept 17, 3 pm |
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Venue: Zellerbach Hall A
Price: $30/$46/$68/$86
Subscription Series: Choose-Your-Own, The Peony Pavilion
This timeless Chinese love story, now set in a brilliant new production, unfolds over three performances and nine hours in Zellerbach Hall. Purchase all three parts and save 20% on single ticket prices!
From the mists of the Ming Dynasty comes a tale of love, beauty, and marriage so profound that it still resonates with modern audiences more than 400 years later. The Peony Pavilion is considered one of the world's greatest artistic accomplishments — the supreme achievement of Chinese kunqu opera, an art form refined over centuries and combining literature, music, dance, and drama with extraordinary purity and precision. While recent productions have struggled with greater and lesser degrees of success with the work's massive structure (originally 55 acts over 20 hours), no one has succeeded more brilliantly than the esteemed Taiwanese literary scholar and producer Kenneth Pai (Pai Hsien-yung) — Professor Emeritus at UC Santa Barbara. To bring his interpretation of Tang Xianzu's epic love story (often compared to Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet) to life, Pai has broken with tradition and selected young, beautiful actors for the cast, introducing a greater sense of vigor and eroticism to the centuries-old story. Here, an extraordinary cast of performers — the brightest talents from Taiwan, Hong Kong, and mainland China, all trained by masters of kunqu — reenacts the story of Du Liniang and Liu Mengmei, lovers caught forever in the bloom of their eternal youth.
This concert is presented with the generous support of Trend Micro Education Foundation, Richard Liu Foundation, Ltd., and Peony Pavilion Performing Arts Foundation.
Part I (Sept 15): The Dream of Love
Du Liniang, a sheltered, lonely girl of 16, dreams of a handsome scholar. Saddened that he was only a dream, she pines away. Before she dies, she paints a self-portrait and hides it in the garden. Her mother buries her under a plum tree, and a shrine is erected to her memory. Most of the singing and action in Part I is done by the female lead, in melismatic, haunting melodies.
Detailed Synopsis
Part II (Sept 16): Romance and Resurrection
Liu Mengmei, an impoverished scholar, dreams of a beautiful lady under a plum tree who prophesies that only she will bring him happiness. While traveling, he finds Du Liniang's portrait, and falls in love with the image. Du Liniang's ghost appears. Convinced of Liu Mengmei's love, she reveals that she is a ghost, but that she can be revived. Braving his own fears, Liu Mengmei opens the grave. Du Liniang returns to life.
Detailed Synopsis
Part III (Sept 17): Reunion and Triumph
The lively resolution to the story. Liu Mengmei succeeds as a scholar, but not before being punished on suspicion of grave robbing. Du Liniang is reunited with her parents, but not before her stern father admits that love can conquer death. This final section contains some of the liveliest and most humorous episodes in all of kunqu.
Detailed Synopsis
The Peony Pavilion will be presented by Cal Performances, UCLA, UC Irvine, and UC Santa Barbara as a noteworthy component of the University of California's China Initiative.
PATRON INFORMATION
Education and Community Events:
Sightlines events
Fri, Sept 15, 6-6:30 pm, Zellerbach Hall
Sat, Sept 16, 6-6:30 pm, Zellerbach Hall
Sun, Sept 17, 2-2:30 pm, Zellerbach Hall
Pre-performance talks by Ben Wang, China Institute and United Language Programs. These Sightlines events are free to all event ticket holders.
The Peony Pavilion Fall 2006
A range of education and humanities programs will explore the artistic legacy of kun opera when Cal Performances presents the American premiere of the Suzhou Kunqu Opera Theatre of Jiangsu's production of Tang Xianzu's The Peony Pavilion. This masterpiece of 16th-century drama, celebrating the timeless themes of passion, death, and resurrection in song, unfolds over three performances at Zellerbach Hall. Dating back 400 years to China's Ming Dynasty, The Peony Pavilion is considered the model of kun opera (kunqu), which is known for its refinement of style, exceptional poetic nuance, and wide emotional range. Recognizing that the art form has the power to transcend culture and language barriers, in 2001 the United Nations proclaimed kunqu as one of the original Masterpieces of Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity.
Symposium: The Peony Pavilion in Context: Kun Opera and Cultural Performance from Ming to Modern Times
Alumni House, University of California, Berkeley
Sept 14-17
A detailed schedule of Symposium sessions can be found at http://ieas.berkeley.edu/ccs/
Key note address by Pai Hsien-yung (Kenneth Pai), UC California, Santa Barbara (Emeritus). Participants: Wu Xinlei, Nanjing University; Joseph Lam, University of Michigan; Lindy Li Mark, Cal State East Bay (Emerita); Katherine Carlitz, University of Pittsburgh; Catherine Swatek, University of British Columbia; Shang Wei, Columbia University; Hua Wei, Academia Sinica; Sophie Volpp, UC Berkeley; Andrea S. Goldman, University of Maryland; David Rolston, University of Michigan; Cyril Birch, UC Berkeley (Emeritus); Sheila Melvin, Music Correspondent, Asian Wall Street Journal; Madam Hua Wenyi, master kunqu artist; Susan Pertel Jain, UCLA; Elizabeth Wichmann-Walczak, University of Hawaii at Manoa; Haiping Yan, UCLA.
Making Theater: Talking about Peony Pavilion
Fri, Sept 15, 2:30-4:30pm, Alumni House
Featuring Kenneth Pai (Producer & Scriptwriter), Hua Wei (Scriptwriter), and Wang Mengchao (Stage Design).
Kunqu Master Class
Sat, Sept 16, 2:30-4:30pm, Alumni House
Taught by Wang Shiyu and Zhang Jiqing, kunqu movement and vocal directors of the Peony Pavilion
Organized by Cal Performances in association with the Center for Chinese Studies and the Consortium for the Arts at UC Berkeley.
Artists links:
Official The Peony Pavilion site
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calperfs.berkeley.edu