- Date 2008.10.30
- Venue Guling St. Avant-garde Theatre
Fable to be, or not to be.
M.O.V.E Theatre
Comments on the Finalist
A powerful collaboration of curators/producers and ten solidly experienced members of the 1980s generation giving their all, each delivering an inspired result, this production put a string of performers on the stage, allowing local, under-30 actors, dancers and musicians a rare opportunity to express themselves independently in a public performance. Lively promotions also helped achieve the goal of making the performance self-supporting. The curators used Japan's "Chinese Character of the Year" activity as a lens to reflect the society of the time. But they allowed performers to keep full autonomy in working with the theme and presented each with the challenge of soloing. The producers/curators took hold of and presented a series of young, startling points of view. The artists performed in their various disciplines, offering a creation of artistic quality that was brash and outrageous, in all a very fine piece. Committee member: Jhih-Mu ZOU
Artwork Introduction
M.O.V.E. Theatre's experimental festival Fable to Be, or Not to Be took place on October 30- November 1, November 6-9, 2008 at the Guling Street Theatre.
In order to attract a wider audience to attend and appreciate avant-garde theater, producer River Lin gathered 10 performers in various fields such as music, dance, art and fashion to each enact a fable based on a Chinese character of their choice. The ten characters [“泡”(bubble), “罰”(punishment), “掙”(struggle/earn), “寂” (lonesome), “忘”(forget), “勿愛”(don’t), “群”(group), “絕”(desperate), “讓”(yield), and “凹” (indent)] were performed by the ten soloists such as popular female poet Shia-Shia, graffiti artist Bbrother, renowned dancer Shu-yi CHOU, Golden Bell nominated actress Hung-Yin CHOU, and illustrator Cola King. The solos were about their own observations of political, cultural, economical, and educational social issues.
M.O.V.E. collaborated with the fashion industry. King's art work became brooches for sale, while fashion brand USED had designed the performers' clothes. This branding helped create a sharp and fresh image that attracted a young audience. Along with the short trailer directed by Lu HUNG, director of AHead Creative CO., Fable to Be, or Not to Be successfully integrated multiple types of art, attracting the attention of both old and new audiences.
Fable to Be, or Not to Be represents the next generation of avant-garde theater by offering a brand new experience of the theater. Through analyzing the society from the performer's point of view, audiences were given a chance to examine the society from their own point of views as well.
About the Artist
Hong-Zheng FU founded M.O.V.E Theater Group last year in order to carry out the aesthetics of Total Theatre. Before M.O.V.E., Fu worked with various theater companies. His previous work has been awarded the "Taishin Performing Arts Award 2005." Fu graduated from the National Taiwan University majoring in Chinese Language and also the Master Programme in Directing at the Taipei National University of the Arts. He is inspired by the experimental theater work of Jerzy GROTOWSKI and Stan LAI. Merging performing arts, multi-media, visual arts and literature, M.O.V.E Theater Group endeavors to develop experimental theatre arts.
