Festival to highlight Guilin's cultural appeal

Two leading Chinese theater directors, Huang Ying and Zhao Miao, were commissioned to create two new theatrical works for the festival.

Huang has adapted the classic Chinese novel Journey to the West into a contemporary Chinese play, of the same title. Zhao will stage a physical theater production, titled Mother Courage and Her Children, adapted from German dramatist Bertolt Brecht's play of the same name. These two theatrical works will be staged during the Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2023 in August and will also be staged during the Guilin Festival.

"Huang and Zhao showcase their different approaches to theater directing and present those works in different ways," says Yang Shuo, a member of the Guilin Festival's organizing committee, who also teaches at the Central Academy of Drama. "What they share in common is that they both integrate a Chinese aesthetic. During the Guilin Festival, they will share their stories with the audience and young theater talent."

According to Hao Rong, president of the Central Academy of Drama, Guilin has a long history of theater and the school also has a deep connection with the city.

Ouyang Yuqian, renowned Chinese playwright and director, who was the first president of the Central Academy of Drama, lived and worked in Guilin. In 1940, he initiated the Guangxi Provincial Art Center, one of the first professional theaters in China for staging plays, and worked as its first president. He promoted and rejuvenated Guiju Opera, a traditional Chinese form of opera that originated in Guilin during the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), and wrote Guiju Opera plays.

In 1944, Ouyang, along with Tian Han, his longtime friend and dramatist, launched the Exhibition of Dramatic Arts, which, in nearly 100 days, gathered more than 30 theater companies and over 1,000 theater artists, staging over 170 plays. The event was a phenomenon and was very well-received by audiences, especially in the way it encouraged people during the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression (1931-45).

"The experience of going to live theater is inspiring and exciting," says Hao. "We want to build Guilin Festival into an event for people to enjoy shows, as well as for those who hope to start their careers in theater."