Shadow Puppet Peking Opera“The Execution of the Judge of Hell”Oct.22nd 19:15 Black Box, STA.
The play combines the traditional Peking opera with the time-honored art of shadow puppetry, resulting in an experimental Peking opera full of wonder and amazement.
The audience will be vividly presented with an astonishing play with thick settings, mysterious oriental tales, sad but beautiful Peking opera singing and a dreamy puppet show throughout the cultural mingling of the East and West in both realistic and romantic ways. The show of The Execution of the Judge of Hell has made successful tours in Europe and has stirred much social repercussion.
Amidst the Lantern Festival, the lantern servant, Ghost of Youliu, comes to Wangxiangtai to admire the lanterns, where he happens to witness the murder of Jinchan Liu. Aggrieved by the injustice, he sends ghosts to the nether world to right this wrong. Afterwards, he discovers that the murderer, Bao Zhang, is put under his father’s protection. Zhang’s father serves as the Judge of Hell, so he secretly falsifies the life-and-death register book for his son. Hence Ghost of Youliu suffers much intimidation before Zheng Bao comes to the nether world to handle the case. The entire unjust story is then brought forward by Ghost of Youliu in front of Zheng Bao, whose resourcefulness helps to have the Judge of Hell executed. The play tells the story of how a ‘small potato’ refuses to go along with the evils of the world and fights for justice.
Running time: 90 minutes
Directed by: Sarah Oppenheim
Written by: Feizi Han
Art Director: Xing Han
Produced by: Chi Han
Cast: Xuehua Wang; Xing Han
