China
Théatre du Rêve Expérimental
Directed by Wang Chong
Written by Ma Chuyi
WHERE: Workshop 7
Duration: 80 minutes (without intermission)
Performed in Chinese, without subtitles
Reviews
In the process of "playing", I can also understand the playwright and director's scrutinizing of the real situation. This kind of understanding is the result of interaction and creation between the participants and the author's realistic consciousness.
This play has a strong sense of game. I can't help but enter the role a little, and I have to overcome the embarrassment of being surprised and watched by the crowd, it reminds me of the eyes of "you are doing the tricks" from adults when you are playing hide-and-seek when you are young.
- Li Jing, writer and playwright
During the three performances, I experienced the mosquitoes to drink the blood of pigs from the first perspective, the turtles crawling hard on the beach, and Snowden fulfilled his ultimate mission. Every half hour was a breathtaking one life experience.
Although the "immigration narrative" is obviously not four "half an hour" to explain, "We from 2.0" opened a window for us in a moving way, a slender perspective - just as I played as a turtle when the wind passes through the "secret road", the light is where you stare at.
- An Ni, theatre critic
About Where Do We Come From, What Are We, Where Are We Going 2.0
Peter Brook writes in The Empty Space, “A man walks across this empty space while someone else is watching him, and this is all that is needed for an act of theatre to be engaged.” Now the young director who has translated the book into Chinese, Wang Chong, asks: what if the walking man and the watching man is one person? Is it still theater?
Then Wang Chong created this Chinese New Wave work, inspired by Paul Gauguin, Where Do We Come From, What Are We, Where Are We Going 2.0.?There is no actor, and it is a work for only four audiences. Each audience has to be guided by audio, “play” a character, walk the walk, and deliver the lines.
Each character (audience) experiences a unique and unforgettable immigration story. The four characters are Edward Snowden fleeing from the U.S. via Hong Kong to Russia, a pig from Kenya trying to reach Australia by boat and ending up in Nauru, a pregnant mosquito traveling by accident from Paraguay via India to Finland, and a 10,000 years old sea turtle who has witnessed the Middle Passage.
Credits
Voice Performance: Wang Xuebing, Wang Xiaohuan
Playwright, Executive Director: Ma Chuyi
Director, Concept, Producer: Wang Chong
Set Design, Graphic Design: Di Tianyi
About Wang Chong
Wang Chong is the founder and artistic director of Beijing-based performance group Théatre du Rêve Expérimental. He has become the most internationally commissioned Chinese theater director. Wang’s works have been invited to festivals in 16 countries.
At the start of year 2016, Wang stopped using cellphone and social networks. He currently lives in The De-electrified Territory (TDT, or Ting Dian Ting), a self-designed Beijing apartment that has no electricity and no electronics.
About Théatre du Rêve Expérimental?
Founded in 2008 by director Wang Chong, Théatre du Rêve Expérimental has become a leading force of Chinese experimental theatre. It is dedicated to refresh the stagnant theatre scene in Beijing. While the Chinese theatre has rapidly become shallow and conservative, the group of artists intends to develop experimental theatre in several different directions: political, physical, documentary, multi-media, and cross-cultural performance.
