Download The 2nd Wuzhen Theatre Festival Set to Kick Off Oct 30

The 2nd Wuzhen Theatre Festival Set to Kick Off Oct 30
After becoming one of the most successful and surprising cultural enterprises in China last year,
the Wuzhen Theatre Festival returns with its highly anticipated second offering, from Oct. 30-Nov 9,
in the picturesque water town of Wuzhen, Zhejiang Province.
This year's Festival Theme is "Metamorphoses," which will be reflected in the extravagant
opening and closing performances: Green Snake from the National Theatre of China, and The White
Snake from the Goodman Theatre, Chicago, USA. Expanded from 6 featured performances to 17 this
year, the Festival features two powerful one woman performances from Korea and the Netherlands,
two wild Shakespeare adaptations from India and America, avant-garde master performances from
Denmark, Hong Kong and China, and a sampling of the best of recent Chinese Little Theatre
performances.
Hit features of last year's Festival will return -- the wildly successful Youth Theatre Artist's
Competition in the West Warehouse Theatre, with its prize money of RMB200,000, the free and
always packed Artist Dialogues, Forums, and Workshops, and the ever-present Carnival
performances on the streets and in the alleys of the ancient town.
This year's Honorary Chairman of the Festival is the esteemed Eugenio Barba, founder and head
of Denmark's Odin Teatret, one of the seminal experimental theatre groups in Europe. His group will
also perform two of their acclaimed works, as well as give workshops at the festival.
This year will see 4 new venues unveiled as performance spaces in the ancient town. The Water
Theatre, a 2000 seat outdoor amphitheatre, will be the spectacular backdrop for Tian Qinxin's
outdoor extravaganza Green Snake. The stately Shi Tian Plaza will host the magical dreamlike dance
on stilts Valse by the acclaimed Teatro Tascabile of Bergamo, Italy. The Studio Theatre of the Grand
Theatre and the Shen Estate Teahouse Theatre, which hosted forums last year, will host many of the
acclaimed performances on this year's bill, including Odin Teatret's Memoria, which is only
performed to a maximum audience of 40 people.
Aside from these new venues, the Wuzhen Grand Theatre, acclaimed by many as the most
beautiful theatre in China, will host Zuni Icosahedron's 1587, A Year of No Significance, directed by
the noted Hong Kong theatre artist Mathias Woo, and the highly anticipated closing performance,
The White Snake, directed by Mary Zimmerman of the USA. The audience will have the opportunity
to see a Western viewpoint of the ancient Chinese fable in this acclaimed production, near the actual
sites of the legend itself. The elegant, wood carved Ancient Courtyard Theatre will host several
productions from China and abroad, including the scintillating Twelfth Night by the Company
Theatre of Mumbai, India. The East Warehouse Theatre will continue its trend of hosting cutting
edge performances, and the West Warehouse will continue as the home of the Youth Competition, as
well as hosting China's premier experimental theatre artist Meng Jinghui's "Midnight Surprise" - a
midnight performance of Jean Genet's The Maids.
The marriage of theatre to a noted scenic destination has created an unexpected chemical
reaction. In the words of last year's Honorary Chairman, the esteemed Robert Brustein, writing in the
New York Review of Books, "Wuzhen has ambitions to become a major international theatrical event
like Avignon or Edinburgh, and, judging from its first season, it will almost certainly realize them."
Founded by Festival Director Chen Xianghong, CEO of Culture Wuzhen, Ltd., the mastermind of
Wuzhen's renaissance, Producing Director Huang Lei, one of China's most famous actors and theatre
artists, and Artistic Director Stan Lai, one of the leading playwright/directors in the Chinese world,
the Wuzhen Theatre Festival promises to deliver another unforgettable experience.