CHINAUS AFRICAASIA 中文双语Français
Culture\Events and Festivals

Chinese acts get rave reviews at The Fringe

By ANGUS MCNEICE | China Daily | Updated: 2017-08-08 07:59

Chinese acts get rave reviews at The Fringe

China Goes Pop is one of the highlights of the China Focus series at this year's Festival Fringe. [Photo provided to China Daily]

A diverse array of contemporary and traditional Chinese productions entertained audiences in Scotland's capital on the weekend, as the Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2017 opened its doors.

China Focus, a collection of eight acts, debuted at the festival, and a dozen other independent performers also represented the country at this year's event, which is one of the world's largest arts festivals.

This year's Festival Fringe involves 3,398 shows from 62 countries, in venues throughout Edinburgh and will continue all month.

Shona McCarthy, chief executive of the Festival Fringe Society, says: "We hope this is the start of a major collaboration with China at The Fringe. We want to see more Chinese work in 2018 and beyond."

Major Chinese performing arts companies at the festival include the National Theater of China, the Shanghai Dramatic Arts Center and the Shanghai Academy of Drama.

Xiang Xiaowei, the cultural counselor at the Chinese embassy, says China Focus will be an annual feature, marking a "new chapter in cultural relations" between China and the United Kingdom.

"The China Focus series will become an icon of Chinese culture at The Fringe in the future and will further enrich cultural exchanges during the 'golden era' of China-UK relations," he says.

On Sunday at The Grand, the audience witnessed one highlight of the China Focus program-The Dreamer.

The collaboration between UK theater company Gecko and the Shanghai Dramatic Arts Center has already racked up several four-star ratings from festival reviewers.

The production draws inspiration from William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream and Tang Xianzu's Peony Pavilion.

While the dialogue is in Mandarin, non-Chinese speakers can follow the show through the actors' physicality. The immaculate set design, lighting and live violin all impress.

On Saturday evening, a sold-out crowd of more than 500 packed into Edinburgh's Assembly Hall to watch China Goes Pop, featuring the Shandong Acrobatic Troupe and the China Arts Entertainment Group.

Some of China's most talented jugglers, contortionists, aerial silk specialists and acrobats performed to recent pop smash hits.

The show was named one of Edinburgh-based reviewer The List's top circus acts for this year.

China Goes Pop is directed by Shanda Sawyer, who is known for the stage production of The Marvel Universe.

The Shanghai Theater Academy's Peking Opera The Boor, the National Theater of China's Luocha Land, and New City, New Sound by the Shenzhen's Alliance Art Group all opened on the weekend.

BACK TO THE TOP
Copyright 1995 - . All rights reserved. The content (including but not limited to text, photo, multimedia information, etc) published in this site belongs to China Daily Information Co (CDIC). Without written authorization from CDIC, such content shall not be republished or used in any form. Note: Browsers with 1024*768 or higher resolution are suggested for this site.
License for publishing multimedia online 0108263

Registration Number: 130349
FOLLOW US