Daring new take on classic Chinese play Teahouse causes stir in France, as dozens walk out
- Lao She’s epic, which recounts the tumultuous first five decades of the 20th century, was one of the most hotly anticipated shows at the Avignon festival
- Director Meng Jinghui’s version features a giant wheel, Chinese rap and techno music, and ‘over-the-top special effects’
Dozens of people have walked out of a challenging new version of a classic Chinese play since performances began in Avignon, France on Tuesday, featuring a huge four-tonne wheel that symbolises history crushing the Chinese people.
Lao She’s epic Teahouse, which recounts the tumultuous first five decades of the 20th century through three generations of a Chinese family, was one of the most hotly anticipated shows at the Avignon festival in southern France.
But the new version of the saga about social injustice, hunger and corruption took a critical bashing with French daily Le Monde comparing its “over-the-top special effects” and live Chinese rap and techno music to something that one might see in a “naff stadium rock opera”.
Pioneering Chinese director Meng Jinghui – who described himself “a bit of a rebel” – is one of the first to dare to overhaul the text since it was first staged in 1958.
Lao, one of the first victims of the Cultural Revolution, is a mythic figure in Chinese theatre.