Modern identity tale comes to Shanghai stage
Print Edition
A Chinese-language production of Marius von Mayenburg’s play “The Ugly One” will be staged at Shanghai Dramatic Arts Center in April.
The show is helmed by award-winning theater director Dmitry Troyanovsky, in cooperation with four talented local performers — Liu Xuanrui, Xu Manman, Lan Haimeng and Zhou Tingchao.
The play focuses on a middle-aged engineer, Lette, who is told by his boss that he is too ugly to promote his new invention. His wife, Fanny, confirms this by telling Lette, “You’re unspeakably ugly.”
A plastic surgeon is called in and Lette is turned into a man with stunning good looks; an Adonis admired and lusted after by both sexes.
Since its premiere at The Royal National Theater in the United Kingdom in 2007, this satirical play has been translated into numerous languages and staged around the world.
“‘The Ugly One’ deals with issues of identity, even though the surface of the play is about physical perfection and beauty. Actually, it deals with the illusory, impermanent nature of identity,” Troyanovsky tells Shanghai Daily.
This production is not Troyanovsky’s first time working with a Chinese troupe. He has also directed a Chinese production of Sara Kane’s “4:48 Psychosis” in Shanghai. This show will return to the stage at the Dramatic Arts Center at the end of next month.
“Now everything moves so fast — the economy, the flow of information, the flow of people. Sometimes we hardly remember who we are,” says the director as he explains what struck him about Mayenburg’s story.
Currently teaching and based in Boston, Troyanovsky stages productions, leads workshops, and develops new theatrical material at institutions such as Shanghai Dramatic Arts Center, Opera Idaho, Bard Music Festival and Asolo Repertory Theatre.
His directing credits include “Evgeny Onegin,” “The King Stag,” “Romeo And Juliet,” “Macbeth,” “Hamlet Redux,” “Spring Awakening,” “Fool For Love,” and many others.
Fluent in Russian and English, the director admits that it is challenging to work with actors who perform in Chinese, a language foreign to him.
“I do have to rely more on the actors’ own abilities; however, on the other hand, I have found that in any rehearsal process — with actors who speak your language or actors who don’t speak your language — the connection with actors goes beyond verbal understanding,” he says.
Trust and communication has been building well with his current team, according to the director.
“The actors are incredible talents,” he states. “Languages and translation became less important.”
The director’s first visit to Shanghai was in 2010, and he says Chinese theaters are becoming more international. Besides directing, his visits to China are also for academic purposes, including giving lectures to Chinese theater students.
In the future, he hopes to see more contemporary Chinese dramas staged abroad for Western audiences.
Date: April 7-23, 7:30pm
Venue: Shanghai Dramatic Arts Center, 288 Anfu Rd
Tickets: 180, 280 yuan
To purchase tickets online, go to sdac.taobao.com.
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