Department of Cultural Affairs

By Psyche Cho
Staff Reporter
photo by Teng Hui-en

Leavened with a healthy dose of philosophical ingredients, the 2011 Taipei Arts Festival seeks to highlight another aspect of theatrical art as it stages seven shows as well as an exhibition of artists from both Taiwan and elsewhere.

Planned under the theme of partying, the festival is indeed a ‘philosophy party’ at which people can have fun exploring the essence of a piece, said Wang Wen-yi, Executive Director of the festival, in a press conference June 9 in Taipei.

The festival opens July 28 with renowned Austrian literatus Thomas Bernhard’s work Ritter, Dene, Voss. The story is a portrait of familial warfare among three siblings as two sisters welcome their ‘genius’ brother home from a mental institution.

“Bernhard employs simple language to breathe life into characters through their everyday conversations,” said Wang.

Another opening program is an exhibition of a series of choreographic objects and films by William Forsythe, which will run from July 28 to August 28 in the Songshan Cultural and Creative Park in Taipei.

Enjoying a reputation as the king of dance, Forsythe has worked with Ballett Frankfurt and Forsythe Company, and his repertoires are highly sought after by contemporary dance groups.

In recent years, Forsythe has been trying to decode the process of choreographing—including every move and body line of the dancers. He has raised the practice to the level of dialectical thinking and continues to explore new forms of dance.

Other international programs include An Anthology of Optimism presented jointly by Belgian writer and theater-maker Pieter De Buysser and Jacob Wren, a Canadian writer.

El Foc del Mar (Fire of the Sea) and Nit Magica (Magical Night), outdoor fireworks shows performed by Spanish pyrotechnic troupe Sarxa Teatre, will draw the six-week long festival to a close right in front of Taipei Civic Square on September 4.

In the area of locally-produced shows, The Puppet and Its Double Theater will perform Who’s Hung Tung in memory of the late illiterate painter Hung Tung. Hung began his career in painting at the age of fifty and became famous overnight with his originality and use of strong colors.

Quanta Theater’s The Dreamy Fallacy is a musical of 29 songs by the late composer Lee Tai-hsiang. Dance Forum Taipei and the Taipei Chinese Orchestra will collaborate to present a dance piece portraying the love story between Xiang Yu, one of China’s greatest military commanders, and his beloved concubine Yu Ji.