National Center for Traditional Arts-Taiwan BangZi Opera Company 內容

Taiwan BangZi Opera Company內容

Taiwan BangZi Opera Company small banner

Growth

Blossoming on Phu Quoc
Transplanted to Taiwan
Adding social and cultural dimensions
To a traditional artistic and cultural profession

The Zhongzhou Henan Opera Troupe was born, after the Second World War, on the Vietnamese island of Phu Quoc. In 1953, with the support of the Ministry of National Defense, it spent some time in Zuoying, Kaohsiung, and its name was changed to the Marine Corp's Flying Horse Henan Opera Company. In 1996, it merged with the Taiwan Bangzi Opera Company of the National GuoGuang Opera Company. In 2008, in line with the switching of authority for all cultural affairs to the Preparatory Office of the National Headquarters of Taiwan Traditional Arts under the Council for Cultural Affairs, its name was changed again to Taiwan Bangzi Opera Company. Since the establishment of the Ministry of Culture in May 2012, it has served formally as a national traditional performing arts troupe under the authority of the National Center for Traditional Arts.

The Operatic Arts

Tradition and Innovation
China and the West Combine Ancient and Modern
Experimental Partners Stand Astride the World
The Young and the Old Share a Craving for Opera

In the last few decades, Taiwan Bangzi Opera Company has accumulated creative ability in abundance. Apart from traditional opera, each year it creates major brand new productions, attempting international collaboration, blending the traditional and the modern, selecting the best of Chinese and Western culture. Its new productions have borne rich fruit. To date, it has released countless works of universal appeal, including: Fighting with Tao San-chun Three Times, How a Dead Leopard Cat was Substituted for a New-born Prince, The Petty Seven-Ranked Officer Meng Li-jun, Large-Footed Queen, Turandot, Qin Shao-you and Younger Sister Su, Empress Wu and Wan-er, Rhymes of Henan Opera in Taiwan, Unoffical Biography of Caojin, Tien-chieh and Chuan Chou, The Legend of Cihuangong, Grandmom Liu, The Empress Dowager Ci Xi and Imperial Consort Zhen, The Pavilion of Praying to the Moon, Bond (A Bangzi opera adaptation of The Merchant of Venice), The Sorceress Bride, The Widow's Peak, Measure, Measure! (A Bangzi Opera Adaptation of Measure for Measure), Mei Long Township, Women Are Renamed, Spring on Plum Mountain, Under Red Plum Blossom, At Aranya Temple, Questioning Heaven, The Journey of the Flying Horse, etc. In addition, as far as children's opera is concerned, there are: Pigsy Rampages the Spider Cave, An Adventure in Dragon Palace, Where the Money goes?!, Henan Opera Troupe for the Youths – Three Kingdoms Video Games, as well as the hip hop operas Amita Pond, the experimental opera Test the Wife! Murder the Wife!, Liu Qing-ti's Hell, among others.

In the year 2000, principal performer Wang Hai-ling won the National Culture and Arts Award and, in 2008, The Empress Dowager Ci Xi and Imperial Consort Zhen and The Sorceress Bride won television's Golden Bell Award for the best traditional opera program and prize for tenth top performance program at the Ninth Annual Taishin Arts Awards respectively.

Forming Partnerships

Walking the road of the traditional arts, one is not alone,
Walking southern Taiwan together, in partnership,
Taiwan Bangzi Puppet Opera forms small towns
Singing the sweet sounds of opera wherever we go.

Since 2005, we have brought together by invitation opera troupes from southern Taiwan to collaborate as troupes to run Nan Xi Xiao Zhen. For many years, these troupes have all been determined to build platforms for the exchange of information on traditional opera in southern Taiwan, to present the vibrant concepts and practices of traditional opera in the south, and, through the force of the "small town" troupe, for broader developmental space for traditional opera.

Nan Xi Xiao Zhen has already established a website, and, through such content as illustrations and text, video and audio, lesson plans, virtual reality, data retrieval, interactive games…etc., as well as lively and open discussion, enables performance artists and audiences to build dreams and realize dreams together.

Putting Down Footprints

The whole world is home to Chinese Opera,
It blooms forth in villages and communities,
Traditional theaters twinkle like scattered stars,
Taiwan Bangzi flourishes around the globe.

In accordance with the troupe's developmental plan, Taiwan Bangzi Opera travels to campuses, communities and townships all over Taiwan, regularly receiving high praise and wide acclaim. In recent years, the foundations of Taiwan Bangzi culture have been firmly established. Through its output, it has expanded its cultural influence. Apart from participating in international art festivals and activities, it has also attached importance to exchanges (involving discussion, observation, and performance) spanning different types of opera and different regions, particularly with theaters in the major cities of China.

Mission

Watch Bangzi Opera Observe human nature
Take pleasure in life

Taiwan Bangzi contains nutrients of Taiwan culture. It does not hold fast to convention. It interprets characters and creates roles, in the hope that the viewer or listener, while watching the performance, will experience human nature and enjoy the pleasure of living one's life.