Venue: National Centre for the Performing Arts - Theatre
Dates: July 14-15, 2018
About
Co-produced by Beijing Artists Management Corp., Ltd., Shengxi (Beijing) Culture Media Co., Ltd. and Beijing Foreign Cultural Exchanges, A Song of Guangling has brought together many excellent Chinese drama composers and performers.
The play is produced with TANG Ling as playwright, ZHOU Long as director, XU Ying as artistic director and famous composer GUO Wenjing as original music creator. Artistic creators of different backgrounds have produced an original full-scale drama with Chinese aesthetic features and performance characteristics concerning the spiritual essence of the Chinese people. A Song of Guangling will be performed on stage to show beauty that oozes of classical charms and modernity, to build an imaginative and artistic realm. Concise stage settings and multidimensional light settings will form a poetic and smart atmosphere to build a dramatic space in line with the Wei-Jin style and modern aesthetic standards. A Song of Guangling will star excellent young opera performers including LI Jian, LIU Ziwei, JIANG Yishan, LIU Dake, MA Xiao, LIU Bing, SI Xianwei and XU Qiushi, who shape the group image of Chinese intellectuals, and act out the unique Wei-Jin style, which appears as integrity and open minded, as well as the lofty aesthetic ideals of that time.
Credits
Producer & Artistic Director: XU Ying
Producer: ZHANG Haijun
Playwright: TANG Ling
Director: ZHOU Long
Composer: GUO Wenjing
Cast
JI Kang: SUN Bo
RUAN Ji: ZHANG Hongwei
SIMA Zhao: LIU Dake
ZHONG Hui: WANG Zhipeng
CAO Wen: CUI Xiaoqian
LIU Ling: LIU Hao
SHAN Tao: TIAN Shaolin
WANG Rong/Ghost: HAO Nan
RUAN Xian: ZHENG Junyi
XIANG Xiu: WANG Qi
CAO Mao: LI Xue
Lü Xun: MA Song
CHENG Ji/Jailer/Servant: DIAO Guangchi
Synopsis
During the Wei and Jin Dynasties, a group of scholars gathered in Shanyang. The sentimental, upright and unconstrained scholars took pleasure in touring across the landscapes, who are hailed as “Seven Saints of Bamboo Groves” in history. Nevertheless in the context of the rise and fall of dynasties, celebrity JI Kang, who is a prestigious leader of literary circles, is greatly scrupled by tyrannical clan surnamed SIMA in power. When his friend Lü An is framed and sent to jail, JI Kang never hesitates to kick against the pricks, and comes out to argue in favor of Lü An. Accordingly, JI Kang falls into a long-standing trap under conspiratorial plots, and has to embark on the road of no return. Just before his execution, JI Kang calmly plays the guqin, looks up to heaven and sighs: “Guanglingsan disappears from now on!” JI Kang achieves his immortality when walking towards the execution ground.
