WHAT IS ZEN? Up until late last year, Liu Ruo-yu of Taiwan's U-Theatre wasn't sure. Then she met Tse Sheng, whose teaching was to change the way she looks at life - and her work - forever. 'Tse Sheng would throw questions at you - such as, 'Who are you?' or, 'What are you doing?' - the whole day, throughout this intensive workshop,' says the U- Theatre founder and artistic director. 'If your answer was of the worldly kind, such as, 'I am Liu Ruo-yu', he would tap you on the right shoulder, which means it's the wrong answer. If you responded in a Zen or metaphysical way such as, 'I am a person and I am looking for the answers of my meanings in this world' - the right answer - he would tap you on the left shoulder.' Five days (and numerous tappings on both shoulders) later, Liu realised that there's much truth in the Zen teachings, but also that her new production, A Touch of Zen, needed reworking. The new version, which features the company and a dozen members of the Shaolin Temple Wushu Training Centre, will be staged at the Hong Kong Cultural Centre from February 23 to 26 as part of this year's Hong Kong Arts Festival. The nine-act musical drama premiered in Taipei last June and has since been performed in Japan, France, Belgium, Russia, the Philippines and Thailand. It's the first part of a planned trilogy, Journey to Shaolin, which is scheduled to unravel over the next five years. Liu says the idea of combining U-Theatre's drumming with real-life Shaolin kung fu attracted her immediately. And, unlike the company's previous works, A Touch of Zen was to have a clear story line, with drum master Wong Chee-mon in the lead role. 'I want to take the troupe to a new direction with more drama,' Liu says. 'I wrote the story according to the convention of the kung-fu movie genre. It recounts the hero's journey, from growing up to revenge and then spiritual redemption through meditation.' During the six months of touring, the show slowly morphed from a drama into a production with a strong conceptual theme. 'In order to convey the theme, I'd been thinking about what Zen meant during the touring period,' Liu says. When she returned to Taiwan, she was introduced to Tse and joined one of his workshops. 'It made me realise that the stories in those Zen classic tales aren't made up,' she says. 'If I could achieve a new understanding about what life is in a five-day intensive workshop, you can imagine the spiritual equilibrium acquired by those monks who meditate for years in the mountains.' Then a well-known theatre actress in Taipei, Liu went to New York University in 1982 and graduated with a master's degree in modern theatre two years later. In 1985, she was chosen to participate in a year-long workshop with Polish director Jerzy Grotowski at the University of California, Irvine. She founded U-Theatre in 1988 with the aim of merging her knowledge of modern drama and Taiwanese traditional cultures such as folk arts and religious rituals. The company spent nearly a decade experimenting with different theatrical methods and themes until its breakthrough work, The Sound of Ocean, which premiered in 1997. It was a drumming work without a narrative, composed by music director Wong, after he spent six months living and meditating in India in 1993. The performance helped U-Theatre achieve the sort of recognition accorded Cloud Gate Dance Troupe and the Contemporary Legend Theatre. Liu says that mixing the disciplines in A Touch of Zen was challenging. 'Trying to merge the theatrical professionalism of U-Theatre with the rough-and-tumble realness of Shaolin kung fu practitioners is the most difficult part,' she says. 'These Shaolin kids aren't actors or performers. In Hunan, they come out to display their real kung-fu skills. Consequently, they know nothing about theatrical techniques such as timing or performing for effect. 'Their first instinct is to come out and attack right away. They have trouble understanding why they have to walk slowly through a scene when they could just fly or leap across the stage.' Liu says the production also needs performers who have the emotional depths to understand the music and the physical stamina to play the drum through the whole show. 'It's very difficult to find people who possess all these elements,' she says. 'I have to allocate the performers to their suited scenes according to their strength. 'Out of the 12 Shaolin practitioners, I have chosen the five younger ones and trained them to play bigger parts. They're all under 20. Because they're younger and impressionable, it's still possible to train them to understand music.' A good grasp of music isn't difficult, Liu says. It's like mathematics in that the rhythm is number-oriented. 'If I keep U-Theatre's drumming as the structure, then these five Shaolin performers simply need to follow the regular rhythm and allow their emotions to show naturally.' Wong says this is the first show in which he can sit back a little, because he's not required in many scenes. 'Because I'm on stage only one-third of the time I get to use my spare time to concentrate on composing the music,' he says. 'A Touch of Zen marks the first time that U-Theatre has presented the music as a whole, coherent, continuous piece, because I had the time to present it that way.' A Touch of Zen, U-Theatre and the Shaolin Temple Wushu Training Centre, Hong Kong Cultural Centre Grand Theatre, Thu to Feb 26, $120-$450. Inquiries: 2824 2430
