We sat down with one of China’s most renowned directors, known for her experimentation with theatre aesthetic, combines spoken text, poetry, Peking Opera style performance and live classical music to create a theatre production that tells the life of Cai Lun, the inventor of paper. Performed in traditional Chinese costume and makeup, the epic performance is accompanied live by Fidelio Orchestra playing Richard Strauss’ symphonic poem Ein Heldenleben (A Hero’s Life), using the music to structure the narrative of Cai Lun’s life in all its emotional and moral complexities.
What drew you to Cai Lun?
I first approached Cai Lun because of my love for the protagonist, and my love for classical music and for symphony. It started as a theatre play, because of my many collaborations with our lead actor Guan Dongtian, I wanted to write something for him. Many of our collaborations have been based on historical figures, and Cai Lun is a heroic, tragic figure. He is full of colour and tragedy, he is confident but also full of self-doubt. He is cunning in a way, though he is also honest.
Tell us about your style?
I created symphony poetry drama. My biggest goal is to be great, and I try to achieve greatness by bringing great things together. In Western culture classical music is one of the greatest forms of art. In China, it’s the Peking Opera. My two lead actors are two of the greatest actors in China, they are both from Peking Opera dynasties.
Was the story always going to be set to Strauss’ Ein Heldenleben?
About a year after I wrote the script, I was in rehearsals for an opera, working with Russian singers on Turandot, and it wasn’t right, I was frustrated. I was invited to a concert, and I said no. I said I’m too frustrated, I’m not going. But my assistant forced me, she put me in a wheelchair and she made me go to the concert, which was Ein Heldenleben by Strauss. As soon as I heard the first notes, the first horn, I saw the mountain at the heart of Cai Lun. The mountain is a big symbol in Chinese culture, and I saw Cai Lun on that mountain.
How did Strauss’ music restructure the show?
Strauss’ symphony is in six parts. Each part has a theme, and in each I could see Cai Lun. It starts with the hero, then the antagonist appears. For Cai Lun, that is the emperor. Then his partner: even though Cai Lun was a eunuch, did he have a partner? I thought must have a partner for Cai Lun. He became a eunuch to come to court at 16, but historically speaking men were usually a father by the time they were 16. There are historic references to eunuchs with court women, they have a relationships that pretend at marriage, they go about all the mundanity of marriage, but it’s also beyond marriage. It’s pure, it’s transcendental. And I heard that in Strauss’ violins.
Is there a key message in the show?
At the end, we have the most important message, at the end of his life. He wants to feel whole, he has been castrated and he wants to find the root of himself. He has led a heroes life, he has contributed to society, but he still needs to find what he really is. He wants to find peace. The art needs to represent him as a full man. In a painting you can paint him as a whole man as a symbol, in theatre you have to do it differently. What this theatre production shows is that he has been castrated physically, but that does not affect him mentally, he is still whole spiritually.
I want audiences to leave feeling respect for him, but respect for themselves, from head to toe. Self respect is an important theme in Chinese culture, and I want to share that with this production in London.
Conceived, written and directed by Chen Xinyi | Conducted by Raffaello Morales
LSO St Luke’s, Thursday 17th October 7.30pm