The New York Critic: Reviews

The Qi Shu Fang Peking Opera

The Qi Shu Fang Peking Opera is technically an American company, but its members are Chinese nationals. Purists (like me) will be satisfied with this. After all, at the opening of the show, we are addressed in Chinese before we're addressed in English. The company recently presented Women Generals of the Yang Family at the Kaye Playhouse of Hunter College. Performed in Chinese, it's a great show. From the moment we see the opening backdrop with its stunning blue mountains, we know this will be a spectacle.

This is a traditional and elaborate Chinese form. Costume is central - bright colors and complex patterns, red robes with white cuffs to the floor, feathers yards long, soldiers in pants. Actors speak, sing, scream or speak over music. They dance, tumble, and sometimes move with a graceful sideways walk. They work with gorgeous, stylized gestures. The first backdrop morphs to the golden emperor-dragon icon of the court.

Note that all the stage movement is SR to SL. It's apparently the natural stage flow, not dependant on the way we read.

The story of this play tells us how 12 widows in mythical history (during the European middle ages, actually) saved the country from invasion after the general falls in battle. The dialogue is suitably artificial ("As we face a hanging bluff, the horse will not budge"); when it wants to be humorous, it's delightful. It all culminates in a wordless, acrobatic battle with juggling and kicking and stylized swordplay (stickplay, actually). It's all wonderful.

The music ensemble includes traditional instruments - gong, drum, fiddle, horn, etc… The Qi Shu Fang company has added an electric synthesizer! The music is insistent, commanding, not subtle.

This drama works for expansion, not compression. It's all clearly designed to impress - a festival of nationalism. There are no ideas here, no discussion.
The Peking Opera dates from the 18th century; its repertoire includes over 1,400 works. We applaud the Qi Shu Fang company for keeping it alive and offering it to us here in the States.

Steve Capra
9-08

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