The Peony Pavilion
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The Peony Pavilion (Simplified Chinese: 牡丹亭; Traditional Chinese: 牡丹亭; pinyin: mǔdāntíng) is a play written by Tang Xianzu in the Ming Dynasty. One of Tang's "Four Dreams", it has traditionally been performed as a Kunqu （昆曲）opera, but Chuan （川）and Gan （赣）opera versions also exist. It is by far the most popular play of the Ming Dynasty, and is the primary showcase of the guimendan （闺门旦/閨門旦）role type. All Kun theatre troupes include it in their repertoire. Recent adaptations have sought to inject new life into one of China's best-loved classical operas, though such efforts have met with opposition from the Kun opera traditionalists.
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[edit] Story
The performance tradition has focused on the love story between Du Liniang and Liu Mengmei （柳梦梅/柳夢梅）, though in its original text (standard translation: Cyril Birch), it has strong elements of dramatic warfare (specifically set in the Song defense against the Jin Dynasty).
Du Liniang is the daughter of an important official. Her maid encourages her to abandon her dull studies and take a walk in the garden, where she falls asleep. She dreams of her lover Liu Mengmei, whom in real life she has never met, before being awoken by falling petals. Unable to recover the enchantment of her dream, she wastes away and dies.
In hell, the underworld judge determines that her marriage with Liu Mengmei is predestined, and that she cannot be retained. Instead, she is sent to haunt him, who now inhabits the garden where they had their dream. Recognising the girl he met in his dreams, he agrees to exhume her. Du Liniang asks him to go to tell her father the news of her resurrection, but he treats Liu Mengmei as a grave robber and impostor. In the end, Liu Mengmei is only saved from a tortuous death by the announcement of the results of the imperial exams. He has topped the list; the emperor pardons all.
[edit] Analysis
Conventional in some ways, particularly the deus ex machina ending, The Peony Pavilion is distinguished by its beautiful and largely untranslatable poetry. "Travelling in the Garden" (游园/游園), "The Dream Interrupted" (惊梦/惊夢）and "Searching for the Dream" (寻梦/尋夢) are considered masterpieces of music and craft.
[edit] Famous performances
Mei Lanfang (sometimes paired with Yu Zhenfei (俞振飞/俞振飛) as Liu Mengmei) was famous for his sensitive portrayal of Du Liniang. The most famous actress of recent years is likely Jiang Jiqing's (张继青/張繼青) traditional approach out of Nanjing's Jiangsu Province Kun Opera. In Shanghai, Jennifer Hua Wenyi (华文漪/華文漪) was very popular in the role, and has played the role abroad several times. Chen Shizheng's 20 hour version, with Qian Yi as Du Liniang, was perhaps the first full length staging in 300 years and spurred a renewed interest in the full opera beyond a few celebrated episodes.
[edit] Adaptations
Bai Xianyong （白先勇）has used "The Peony Pavilion" as inspiration for a short story and a television script, besides also producing and co-adapting a "Young Lovers" version (青春版）out of Suzhou, which toured China and Taiwan. The production made its US premiere, the first performance outside of Asia, at Zellerbach Hall in Berkeley, California, Sept 15-17, 2006.
Recently in 1998, "The Peony Pavilion" was made into opera by Tan Dun, and directed by both Peter Sellars and Chen Shizheng. It played primarily abroad, often winning critical success but offending Chinese traditionalists.
In 2001, a Hong Kong movie 遊園驚夢, starring Rie Miyazawa and Joey Wong, was called Peony Pavilion in English. Though only indirectly related in terms of plot, it used the music extensively. A Taiwanese movie 我的美麗與哀愁 directed by Chen Guofu, with cinematography by Christopher Doyle and starring Luo Ruoying shared the same English title.
