Li Liuyi New Drama
Cultural Centre Studio Theatre
Reviewed: Nov 15
Stage director Li Liuyi continues his deconstruction of Peking operatic traditions in the final instalment of his Trilogy of War Heroines. Where fragments of the old vocabulary could still be found in Mu Guiying and Hua Mulan, Liang Hongyu has none. Li has invented a stage language that delights and shocks. And its break from tradition is likely to split audiences.
Yingzi plays Liang Hongyu (right), a Song dynasty courtesan-turned-warrior who chooses a life of seclusion over that of a hero. Like the protagonists in Liu's earlier works, Liang is also haunted by her beauty, success and inexplicable sadness.
Liang's story is introduced by the mamasan, played by the director's father, Li Xiaofei, a famed Sichuan comic opera actor. The introduction is the only part of the performance with a linear narrative. The rest is more about Li turning Chinese opera on its head, weaving texts from classics such as The Peony Pavilion and Farewell My Concubine and an extract from The Water Margin into the overall drama with or without context.