The Peony Pavilion

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The National Ballet of China The Peony Pavilion, The Lowry, 26 Nov 2016. 19:30

With a population of nearly 1.4 billion, an estimated GDP of US$9.24 trillion in 2013 and a brilliant civilization thousands of years old, I expected a lot from the National Ballet of China's version of The Peony Pavillion. In many ways, we got a lot: a beautiful libretto based on a love story that is said to be a classic of Chinese literature, some fine choreography from Fei Bo, some excellent dancing and some breathtaking designs. However, I had been expecting even more -something commensurate with China's status as a superpower - a work that would stand comparison with the best of the Bolshoi. American Ballet Theatre, the Royal Ballet and the other great national ballet companies of the world. In its present form, it was good but not great - but I think it has the potential for greatness and the company certainly does.

The weakest element of The Peony Pavillion as it stands is the score. Basically, there isn't one or at least not an original one.  Guo Wenjing, who has created such beautiful orchestral work as Riding on the Wind, combined bits of Debussy, Ravel and other work from the late 19th and early 20th centuries with some Kunqu singing.  As the story was performed in Kunqu opera for several hundred years I should have preferred to have heard something derived from the original score or, better still, an entirely new composition by Guo Wenjing. As it was, when I heard L’après-midi d’un faune my thoughts turned to Nijinsky's ballet which I just could not get out of my head.

Turning from the ballet's weaknesses, let's consider its many strengths.  As I said, the ballet has a beautiful story based on the play by The Peony Pavillion by Tang Xianzu who lived between 1550 and 1616.  Published in 1598 (just one year after Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet) the programme notes stated that the two works were often compared with each other. Save that they were written at almost the same time I could see very little basis for comparison. The ballet follows the play as summarized in Wikipedia except that the  scene in which Liu Mengmei is accused of grave robbing in an attempt to rescue Du Liniang is omitted. In so far as this is a story about love that survives the grave it seemed to have more in common with Giselle than Romeo and Juliet.  It is a lot less violent than Romeo and Juliet where at least five characters die or even Giselle where the heroine and Hilarion kick the bucket. It has a happy ending in that Liu Mengmei and Du Liniang get married in a shower of peony petals which lie several inches deep at the end of the performance.

The story gives scope for some powerful roles.  The female lead, Du Liniang, was danced by Wang Qimin, a principal who seems to have performed all of Petipa's great roles as well as several that have been created especially for her.  The male lead, Liu Mengmei, was danced by Sun Ruichon who is also one of the company's principals. Just before the show began the choreographer came on stage to introduce the characters in costume and he told us that Du Liniang had two alter egos - the flower goddess who was danced by Lu Di and the Kunqu singer, Jia Pengfei, whom I mentioned above. She wore the most gorgeous costumes and entered the stage and even allowed herself to be hoisted on a platform several feet into the air but her principal role was to sing which she did very well. The other characters whom Fei Bo introduced included ghosts which were danced by Yu Bo and Hu Dayong. I was not sure of their role by that stage and the programme notes did not exactly help but they also danced well. Finally, there was the judge of the underworld who was danced by Li Ke.

Each of those dancers and indeed each and every member of the corps displayed impeccable technique. Most if not all of the principals seem to have trained at the Beijing Dance Academy and it is obvious they have been taught very well. The scenes in which they corps participated were the most impressive of the whole ballet. I would love to see them as swans or as wilis. I don't know whether La Bayadere is in the National Ballet of China's repertory but if it is their descent into the kingdom of the shades would be mesmerizing. These extraordinarily gifted young and women must the very best of a massive population. Their potential is enormous.

 I should say a special work for Michael Simon who designed the sets and lighting and Emi Wada who designed the costumes. I described the designs as "breathtaking" above and so they were.  The last scene where the cast circle Lin Mengmei and Du Liniang to a shower of peony metals is one of the most impressive I have ever seen in the theatre.  The backdrop of the tree branch was one of the most beautiful.  The underworld scene with its black peonies that eventually fell from the ceiling was one of the most chilling. This was total theatre.

Ballets evolve in time and become great in their evolution. I hope that happens to The Peony Pavillion because the story is worth telling. Perhaps the National Ballet will commission an original score from Guo Wenjing or some other composer. Perhaps this work will inspire another company (maybe one outside China) to make its own version.

This was a rare opportunity to see an impressive company and to learn about an important work of Chinese literature and I am very glad that I did so.

The National Ballet of China is coming to the Lowry

Lowry Centre

Photo Andrew Dunn

Source Wikipedia
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In Al Jazeera features the Ballet Class in the Nairobi Slums 19 Oct 2016 I referred to the comments on Al-Jazeera's Facebook page about a remarkable ballet class in one of the poorest neighbourhoods in Nairobi. While most of the comments were favourable there was one that was not:

"Ballerina? Very good dream but it must be stopped! Kenya is an ancient land with a rich and colourful past, there are many aspects of Kenyan culture that can be embraced by Kenyan youths. Why are Africans still living like colonial subjects? Helping sustain European language, religion, culture, economy at the expense of Africa and African culture! Stop."

Well, Kenya is indeed "an ancient land with a rich and colourful past" but then so is China.  No one would dispute that "there are many aspects of Kenyan culture that can be embraced by Kenyan youths" and I hope that many of them, including, perhaps, some of the kids in the ballet class in Kibera as well as other students around the world, will do just that. But embracing and contributing to an art form that began in the courts of renaissance Italy and has now spread across the world is not a rejection of any other art from any other culture. Indeed, there are instances where the confluence of two cultures influences both for the better.

A good example of such confluence and mutual influence appears to be The National Ballet of China which describes itself on the "About Us" page of its website as follows:

"The National Ballet of China was founded in December of 1959. All of The National Ballet of China’s outstanding artists come from professional academies. During decades of care and support from the government and friends from all social sectors, the company has never ceased enriching its solid Russian foundations with works of different schools and styles. The company’s repertoire includes classics like Swan Lake, Don Quixote, Giselle, Carmen, Onegin, and The Little Mermaid, as well as original creations like The Red Detachment of Women, The New Year Sacrifice, Yellow River, Raise the Red Lantern, The Peony Pavilion, and The Chinese New Year. By both performing Western ballets and creating works of its own with distinct national characteristics, the company has found a successful path for the development of Chinese ballet. It is fusing the classical and the modern, and cultures from all over the world."

Now with all due respect to the critic of the ballet class in Kibera, the artists of one of the world's most powerful nations and one of its oldest and most brilliant civilizations do not live like colonial subjects. They are creating something magnificent which may use the vocabulary of classical ballet but remains authentically Chinese.

The National Ballet of China will bring one of those Chinese creations to The Lowry when it performs The Peony Pavillion between the 22 and 26 Nov 2016. The ballet is described on The Lowry's website as

"one of the most enduring love stories in Chinese literature. Adapted from Tang Xianzu’s play of the same name, The Peony Pavilion is a ballet telling a 16th-century story of passion pitted against impossible odds, an Eastern contemporary of Shakespeare's 'Romeo and Juliet'."

Further information on the ballet and the play appears on Wikipedia:

"In May 2008, the National Ballet of China premièred a two-scene ballet adaptation of The Peony Pavilion in Beijing. For this adaptation, the play was rewritten by the opera's director Li Liuyi; the ballet was choreographed by Fei Bo, and the music was composed by Guo Wenjing. The adaptation had its European premiere at the Edinburgh International Festival in August 2011."

The Wikipedia description may be a little inaccurate in that it refers to "two scenes". I think the author must have meant to say "two acts". The Lowry describes it as "A Ballet in Two Acts and Six Scenes (Adapted from Tang Xianzu’s play of the same name)" on its website and I have to say that that seems rather more likely.