Themed around ‘Time’, the 27th Macao Arts Festival (MAF) will take place under the slogan “Reshape Your Imagination, Experience the Spirit of the Times” and aims to enable audiences to appreciate the classics refined through history. The Festival will present 27 fascinating programmes, divided into seven distinctive categories: Thematic Highlights, Groundbreakers, Cross-Disciplinary Creations, Family Entertainment, Quintessence of Tradition, Concerts and Exhibitions.
This year marks the 400th anniversary of the death of the western world literary giant William Shakespeare and of Ming Dynasty’s famed Chinese playwright Tang Xianzu. MAF will present a number of their works in tribute to the two virtuosos.
The Festival will begin with Shakespeare’s romantic comedy, A Midsummer Night’s Dream rendered by the Shakespeare Theatre Company. Macbeth, one of Shakespeare’s four major tragedies, presented by Third World Bunfight from South Africa in the form of opera, brings the Festival to a close. It will be seasoned by a rewritten and adapted score originally conceived by Giuseppe Verdi.
Two of Tang’s tours de force will be staged: local Cantonese Opera maestro Chu Chan Wa and a number of professionals will interpret Tang’s widely admired The Legend of the Purple Hairpin. Meanwhile, The Peony Pavilion, recognised as one of the Four Great Chinese Classical Dramas, delicately portrays bittersweet love in the form of Yue Opera excerpts.
Other highlights include renowned 20th century playwright Samuel Beckett’s Krapp’s Last Tape interpreted by consummate U.S. director Robert Wilson in person.
To debunk stereotypes of disability and theatrical experience, a group of mentally challenged persons will perform in the Disabled Theater with their homespun bodies.
Tao Ye, a talent in contemporary dance circles, will pilot TAO Dance Theater through 6 & 7, presenting minimalism in dance. All these shows, among others, promise immense excitement.
The 27th Macao Arts Festival
April 30 to May 29
www.icm.gov.mo/fam/27
