PAINTED SKIN
Huayi Chinese Festival of Arts
Esplanade Concert Hall
Saturday (23 February 2019 )
This review was published in The Straits Times on 25 February 2019 with the title "Opera's insightful look at the human state".
The
Chinese love a good ghost story, and Esplanade’s Huayi Chinese Festival of Arts
delivered a coup in Painted Skin (Hua Pi), an opera in concert by
Chinese composer Hao Weiya and librettist Wang Yuanfei. Directed by Yi Liming,
its world premiere in Shanghai
Adapted
from a well-repeated story in Pu Songling’s Strange Tales From A Chinese
Studio, the plot involved a love affair between a scholar and a demon in
human disguise. Thus its title usually refers to nefarious intentions cloaked
in a veneer of geniality.
Performed
by a chamber-sized SCO numbering only 29 players, the music was stark but
highly atmospheric, transparent and
often atonal, in the manner of the Second Viennese School
The
gender reversals in the cast were also telling. The only male role, Scholar
Wang, was sung by mezzo-soprano Dong Fang while love interest Gui Yan, a
succubus in Beijing
Each
act had a duet as its centrepiece, helping to flesh out the characters and
their motivations. However it was the third act’s ballad of the scorned wife,
with the ubiquitous guan providing poignant counterpoint to Li’s angst, which
was likely to move most hearts.
Two
short interludes between acts gave Gui Yan, ironically, a more human face. Her
endeavour was to seek out a heart of purity (namely Wang’s), possess it and
leave the realm of demons forever. Wang’s reciprocation was however less
honourable. His transition from fascination to captivation, and to outright
lust, was easily accomplished on a slippery slope.
On
the spartanly furnished stage, symbolism reigned supreme. Wang’s umbrella was a
phallic presence while the couple’s space-age raincoats-for-outfits were foils
for deeper and darker secrets. Dripping rain, interweaving hands and flowers
swirling in water projected on a large screen also substituted for acts of
consummation.
On
probing recesses of the human heart, was its colour crimson or was it black?
All was revealed in the fourth and longest act, also the most climactic. That
its tragicomedic final confrontation provided the audience with the most laughs
should not diminish the stature of the 95-minute opera, performed without
intermission.
That
the best of demons could also cuss like the worst of people was, in fact, an
indictment of the human state. Our hearts, despite the cover of painted skin,
is as black as pitch.
Production photographs by Tuckys Photography,
by the kind courtesy of Esplanade Theatres on the Bay.
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