Modern show with a traditional twist

Peking Opera marries new technology with surprising results in 2047 Apologue, Cheng Yuezhu reports.

Peking Opera, an icon of traditional culture, and iPad, a digital invention of the 21st century, hardly fit into the same context, yet a concept theater show, directed by filmmaker Zhang Yimou, manages to combine the two seamlessly.

One of the performances in his 2047 Apologue features the gripping Peking Opera scene Sanchakou (The Crossroads Inn), where two characters get into a fight in a pitch-dark room. With only one table on stage, the performers mime finding and fighting one another without giving away their own location, exhibiting agile acrobatic and martial arts skills.

The sequence is followed by an eerie scene in which dozens of dancers walk onto stage, each covering their face with an iPad that shows a magnified deadpan face.

That these two scenes should appear in the same performance is not random, but an exploration of the evolving social interaction with the development of science and technology, according to He Lulu, chief executive director of the show.

"In ancient times when there was no electricity, people had to feel their way in the dark and try to find each other. Now we can see one another, but do we really 'see' them? We might not see our friends in person as often as we read their social media posts, and even at gatherings, many people are communicating through their phones," He says.

With similarly curious amalgams between the traditional and the modern, 2047 Apologue uses advanced multimedia stage technology, including lasers and holograms, and a diverse range of Chinese traditional and folk art forms, to explore and present the relationship between humans and technology.

In the show, viewers can see mechanical arms on stage, their movements creating shadows which interact with a dancer; a 79-year-old folk opera singer performing alongside a hologram of modern dancers; and a confrontation of, and synergy between, Western and Chinese percussion instruments.

From May 21 to June 12, the show is touring Chengdu in Sichuan province, Shenzhen in Guangdong province, Shanghai, and Hefei in Anhui province, with eight performances selected from its previous three seasons.