Beijing Ren

Rating: ***

Cast: Beijing People's Art Theatre

Watched on 23 Jun 07 with Chup at Esplanade (S$20/pax).

When the stage was revealed, I was quite impressed by the huge courtyard of a typical chinese house. I was later a little disappointed to realize that this set will be what I see from beginning till end. I am quite a sucker for impressive sets when I watch dramas or musicals :)

I thought the pace was rather dragged. It was a long 185 minutes! But then considering this depicts a scene set in 1937, that would be exactly how the people behave at that time.

After watching, the drama gave me horrifying thought about what I should do if my elders pass on? Bury? Cremate? In Indonesia? In Singapore? Coffins? Urns?

Synopsis from Sistic

Cao Yu's own personal favourite play Beijing Ren comes to Singapore replete with a vast paper-house that bespeaks the fragility and fractured emotions of the people who live and take shelter in it. Set in 1937, a family is torn apart by selfishness, divided loyalties, unrequited and unfulfilling love, and yet unable to escape its own entrapment. This theatre classic exposes the eclipse of traditional feudal families at a time of turbulent change in China.

...the one who was rather disturbed by some of my neighbouring audience who kept farting in the theatre!