Theatre Workshop "journey to the Unknown: a Journey to the West"

From classical Chinese literature to contemporary European theatre

The epidemic that began at the beginning of 2020 has had a profound impact on our daily and public life. It has also highlighted divisions within societies and differences between political systems. On the one hand, the controversial reports and the out-of-control situation have called democracy into question; on the other hand, the total surveillance of the population and the ambitious fight against the virus have further consolidated dictatorships.

How do we position ourselves? What can we do as individuals and as part of society in the face of this situation? Does this chaos offer us an opportunity to rethink and start afresh?

The two-week workshop focuses on the present moment and moves more towards our vision. It opens a platform to step out of us, look at the Other and be inspired by the Other. It provides a time to re-examine ourselves from a different perspective and start again from there.

The workshop will explore the following themes and texts in both theory and practice:

1. The history of Chinese theatre from the early 20th century to the present.
The workshop will cover the history of Chinese theatre from traditional Chinese opera, through drama from Western backgrounds and the revolutionary model opera created during the Cultural Revolution, to the emergence of experimental theatre since the early 1980s and the new forms of contemporary theatre. Here, the workshop will present the influence of Western theatre pioneers Konstantin Stanislawski, Bertolt Brecht and Jerzy Grotowski on Chinese theatre at different times. It will show how Antonin Artaud and Bertolt Brecht drew inspiration from traditional Asian and Chinese dance and theatre aesthetics and incorporated them into their own theories.

2. "The Journey to the West", a Masterpiece of Chinese Classical Literature
is one of the Four Great Masterpieces of Chinese Literature, written by Wu Cheng'en during the Ming Dynasty in the 16th century. The main character of this story, the humane and powerful Sun Wukong, is still very popular in China and is a favorite image for young and old, especially for children. There have been numerous puppet shows, theatre performances, films, radio plays and books. This workshop will introduce the classic puppet theatre of this story and the traditional techniques of playing the monkey, and explore topics related to this story such as turmoil, journey, transformation, Buddhism and Taoism.

3. Re-creation from the Individual
Participants learn and develop games, performances and scenarios through segments of , writing texts related to their own experiences and feelings. In the process, they combine their own and others' stories, the real world and the fictional world, to recreate characters and stories from the novel.

During the course of the workshop, these three components are interconnected in the form of presentations, videos, online discussions, practical exercises (bodies, objects, texts) and rehearsals. Finally, we will present the results of our practice and rehearsal in the form of a performance.

Workshop teachers:

Cao Kefei, Yang Zenghao

Participants:
Viktoria Blum, Sina Braun, Amilie Feuerbach, Marie Haller, Jesse, Marvin, Maya Kielhorn, Rebekka, Tiantian Qi, Luise Senst, Lisha Zhang

Organizer: Bildung & Begabung, Schülerakademie Germany

Location: Iserlohn, Germany

Time: July 2022