Taishin Bank Foundation for Arts and Culture

Comments on the Finalist

“Nanke Story” is the story of a dream.  In the realm of modern theatre, and the art of traditional theatrical performance, ½ Q Theatre presents Tang Hsien-tsu’s Ming dynasty “Record of Nanke.”  In the play, protagonist Chun Yu-fen is often found napping under the nanke tree in the back of the court.  Upon seeing an ant nest near the roots of the tree, he is moved by the group of ants leaving the nest and dreams of entering a foreign land, marrying a princess, and living in a tower.  In the latter half, Chun Yu-fen is lonely because his wife dies and so he indulges in sensual pleasures and leads a life of comfort.  Upon waking from the dream, he sighs and sees the ant nest under the tree as if it is a scene in the dream, and realizes that life is like a dream and full of all its desires and conflicts.  The original playwright Tang Hsien-tsu uses writing for both the human and the ant to construct a series of intense emotions.  Meanwhile, by using “realistic imagination,” wherein the technique arises from interplay between real and imaginary, the performance displays the astonishing creativity of Chinese theatre.  The original production of this zhezi play in the space of experimental theatre effectively represents a modern expression of a dream state.  Principal actor Yang Han-chu delivers an enchanting aria that transmits the beauty of Kun opera.  Furthermore, the princess only acts and does not sing, leaving the task instead to a karaoke singer and reinstating the notion of a dream state in which “the play within a play” is like the “dream within a dream.”（By Committee Member He-yi LIN）