Taishin Bank Foundation for Arts and Culture

Comments on the Finalist

Originally a lengthy closet opera, there have been few changes in the past hundred years aside from the shifting gender roles of the 1825 script.  Director Chun-fang TAI invited modern dancer An-lee SU to play the speechless “inverted image” with abstract body language, partnered with the dramatic flair of Kun opera actor Han-chu YANG.  The ingenious stage design is a fantastic construction by installation artist Shy Gong: the wooden boat is deftly utilized by the actors and directors as a multi-functional platform for scripted movements, scene changes and the writing of mood.  Of further interest is the creative reorganization of Leonardo da Vinci’s “Mona Lisa” into a multimedia projection, linking Leonardo and author Wu Tsao in space and time through the performed music and transformed portrait.  Consequently, the mystical smile of “Mona Lisa” appears in the atmosphere of the contemporary moment.  Although this is a modernization of drama that crosses spatial boundaries, each creator reveals their specialized finesse and exquisite innovations.  Reflecting in each realm, a vehicle for elucidating matters of the heart for women and homosexuals of past and present. If creation can emerge from love and pervade multiple levels, then really there is beauty to be found in this work’s every truth! （By Committee Member Yu-hui FU）