Mulan engages, Wanderer-seekers wander at Chinese Theatre Festival

The second edition of Chinese Theatre Festival happened at School of The Arts venues.  The Theatre Practice held its inaugural festival at Joyden Hall at Bugis+ in 2011.

This year's focus was on the themes of traditions and classics, based on the message by artistic director Kuo Jian Hong.  The two productions that I caught reflected this theme.

Mulan 当兵姑娘花木兰 is a musical theatre for the young audience.  A familiar story with the Chinese audience, Hua Mu Lan
volunteered to serve the army in place of her ailing father. It's a wonder why no one noticed her gender.... she must be pretty muscular I believe.

The children enjoyed this performance as there were interactive elements and audience participation.  The script was well written and incorporated the anti-war message. It was brought to life by the cast who was engaging and related well to the audience.   Special mention must be given to the set design.

Chinese philosopher Zhuang Zi was the inspiration of the next production Wanderer-seeker: A trek around my room 行者悟空： 七个关于理想生活的日常片段.   Several individuals were trapped in a room and they were muttering something while cooking, vomiting, resting etc.  While playwright/ director Liu Xiaoyi has his intentions, the performance was over ambitious and self-indulgent at times. The ensemble was thus sadly under-utilised.


The Theatre Practice should be commended for taking the initiative in putting up these productions, and hope the company would continue to stage this Festival in the coming years.