In 2009 theatre director Tang Shu-Wing and choreographer Xing Liang joined forces to create an award-winning radical re-working of Cantonese opera classic Princess Changping . Now they have teamed up again for an equally original take on one of China's most famous plays, Cao Yu's 1933 Thunderstorm .
Unlike Princess Changping, this is not a deconstruction but rather a condensation of Cao's work, stripped down to its essentials and presented as purely physical dance theatre. The result is a drama that succeeds in depicting the complex characters and relationships of the play without a single line of dialogue.
Thunderstorm tackles a recurring theme of 20th century Chinese literature, the oppression of the old feudal family system. The Ibsenesque plot deals with tyranny, madness, and revelations of incest that lead to the destruction of even the most innocent members of the family.
Tang and Xing tell this dark tale with admirable economy in a series of taut scenes illuminated as if by flashes of lightning from the gathering storm of the title which hangs over the action.
Drawing on elements of contemporary dance, Chinese dance and tai chi, Xing has fashioned a choreographic language of great naturalness where nothing is done for show and every movement has meaning. Ironically in the past, Xing has eschewed narrative work - here he shows himself a master of the medium.