Taishin Bank Foundation for Arts and Culture

Jury’s Comments for the Performing Arts Award Winner 

Zhu Wen Elopes with the Ghost is a collaboration between Gang-A-Tsui Theatre and Tomoe Shizune & Hakutobo. The fine blending of traditional Nanguan music, Liyuanxi text, Butoh and Japanese Noh aesthetics, resulted in an artful, minimalist work.

The production reconfirms an important achievement of Gang-A-Tsui’s devotion to Nanguan’s preservation and development over the past decade. The intercultural collaboration and innovative experimentation of the tradition deserve great recognition.

Comments on the Finalist 

Gang-a-tsui Theater was founded upon many years of Nanguan training.  In collaboration with Japan’s Tomoe Shizune and Hakutobo, this production fuses three sections from the ancient screenplay with Japanese dance to offer a brilliant visual display.  Through the director’s pure and thoughtful style of black-box theatre, along with the concise forms and clear spatial demarcations, this production unites Japanese dance and the spirit of the human soul.  The performance and stage are grounded in the concepts of masculine and feminine, emptiness and reality, and the structural organization emerges from an aesthetic of building and dissipating, with a smooth resonance that does not forsake its classical flavor.  Meanwhile, it grasps the humor and liveliness of its Ming-dynasty script, through natural and unwavering acting and an unconventional appeal that brims with vivacity and meaning.  The 2006 production of “Zhu Wen Elopes with the Ghost” is a story of a human and a ghost who transcend the barrier of time and space through the intensity of their affection.  Through the management of both performance intrigue and aesthetic form, their heroic pursuit of true love becomes a proposition for its universal value among humanity. 

（By Committee Member Mei-ying YANG）

Artwork Introduction

Zhu Wen Elopes with the Ghost is a collaboration between Gang-A-Tsui Theatre and Tomoe Shizune & Hakutobo. The fine blending of traditional Nanguan music, Liyuanxi text, Butoh and Japanese Noh aesthetics, resulted in an artful, minimalist work.

The production reconfirms an important achievement of Gang-A-Tsui's devotion to Nanguan's preservation and development over the past decade. The intercultural collaboration and innovative experimentation of the tradition deserve great recognition.