At the invitation of director Chen Minghao, Xu Zhen, Lu Pingyuan and Liu Ning joined the project as a team of artistic advisors for the play ‘Wencheng’, and invited works by artists including Ma Qiusha, Yang Di, Wang Sishun and Yu Zhou to be incorporated into the production.
This was a collaborative exploration of the ‘contemporary theatrical experience’. Taking Yu Hua’s novel ‘Wencheng’ as their starting point, the directing team and the artists discussed how the historical experiences, rural memories, gender relations, and the individual’s space for survival amidst sweeping historical changes depicted in the novel—along with its narrative structure, which constantly drifts between the magical and the real—could be revitalised within a contemporary understanding of reality. The creators’ primary focus was on how ‘Wencheng could serve as a theatrical catalyst capable of resonating with the lived experiences of contemporary Chinese society.
Anaya is both a seaside community and a contemporary space where natural landscapes and public activities intertwine. The relationship between the resort space and the theatre space also ensures that ‘Wencheng’ is no longer merely a story set within a traditional Chinese narrative, but can be re-examined within a more complex international perspective and the context of contemporary life.
