Yujia Lin from the Kunshan Contemporary Kunqu Theater plays Du Liniang in a scene from ‘Peony Pavilion’ alongside actor Wang Sheng.
By Ariana Qiu ’24
Contributing writer
Editor’s note: As this article contains names of historical characters alongside contemporary artists, to avoid confusion, all Chinese names here follow the Chinese naming system: family name then given name.
Actors from the Kunshan Contemporary Kunqu Theater treated students, faculty and staff to a performance of two classic scenes during a visit to the Duke Kunshan campus in April.
A star cast including Lin Yujia and Cao Zhiwei performed scenes from ‘Peony Pavilion’ and ‘The Water Margin’ to demonstrate the unique vocal and lyrical style of kunqu, a form of song drama developed in Kunshan almost 500 years ago.
Playing to a packed auditorium, the actors sang without amplification while accompanied by an orchestra of eight musicians and percussionists. Screens off-stage displayed English and Chinese subtitles.
‘The performance was an audio-visual feast,’ said Xu Qingqing ’23, a member of the DKU Kunqu Club, a student-led organization. ‘We were able to feel the emotion and meaning between the lines of the text while enjoying a wonderful performance. We really admired the superb skills of the actors and gained a more comprehensive understanding of the characters from their vivid performances.’
Zou Yiyao performs as Du Liniang’s maid in ‘The Dream in the Garden’
Musicians play classical instruments to accompany the performance
In ‘The Dream in the Garden,’ a scene from Tang Xianzu’s (1550-1616) ‘Peony Pavilion,’ Liu played 16-year-old Du Liniang, the sheltered daughter of a Song dynasty official, who sneaks with her maid into the garden of her family mansion to enjoy the spring scenery. Realizing her beauty will fade like the flowers, Du turns melancholy and falls asleep in the pavilion, entering into a dream involving a soul-stirring romantic liaison.
The second performance saw Cao play Lu Zhishen, a crude army captain who has disguised himself as a monk, in the humorous ‘The Monastery Gate’ scene from ‘The Water Margin.’ Lu encounters a wine peddler and drinks all his wares before drunkenly emulating the poses of the statues of the 18 arhats along the monastery wall ‘ a physical challenge that requires the performer to balance on one leg for about 10 minutes.
Actor Cao Zhiwei specializes in the painted-face role of Lu Zhishen, a tragicomic character in ‘The Water Margin’
In the scene ‘The Monastery Gate,’ Cao’s Lu Zhishen has a humorous exchange with a wine peddler, played by Xu Min.
Cao teaches three undergraduate students how to perform Lu Zhishen’s trademark laugh
After the show, Cao gave three students an opportunity to test their vocal and physical skills in an impromptu on-stage tutorial. He encouraged them to try posing as the sleeping arhat and reading arhat, and to capture Lu’s signature roar of laughter.
The visit by the Kunshan Contemporary Kunqu Theater, co-organized by the Language and Culture Center and Kim Hunter Gordon, assistant professor of Chinese and performance studies, is part of wider efforts to engage the Duke Kunshan community in kunqu.
Hunter Gordon, who researches and performs kunqu, teaches a two-credit course incorporating the ancient art form and organizes regular singing classes, themed events and theater trips.
Find out more about Duke Kunshan’s interdisciplinary media and arts major, which has tracks in creative practice and history.
