"Great ancient civilizations are all similar; great ancient civilizations are acquainted; great ancient civilizations are even more intimate..." Last night, the 2021 Chinese Hellenic Year of Culture and Tourism "Zhaojian Sino-Greek Drama Dialogue" activity was held at the Butterfly Theater in Hangzhou, where Chinese and Greek artists exchanged views in the form of video links, and theater experts from the two countries exchanged views from multiple levels on how to learn from each other through the lens of "drama". More than 120 representatives from the mainstream media and audiences of the two countries participated in the event online and offline. It is understood that the event is a cultural exchange project implemented within the framework of the 2021 Chinese Year of Culture and Tourism.
Mr. Luo Jinlin, former Vice President of the Central Academy of Drama and an expert in Chinese Greek theater culture, Ms. Mao Weitao, Vice Chairman of the Chinese Dramatists Association and famous Yue opera performance artist, Mr. Li Liuyi, famous Chinese theater director and playwright, Ms. Lydia Koniorzu, former Minister of Culture and Sports of Greece and famous national treasure artist of Greece, Mr. Stasis Livasinos, former artistic director of the Greek National Theatre and internationally renowned theater director, and other guests attended the exchange and dialogue activities.
The guest of honor of this dialogue, Mr. Luo Jinlin, is the son of Luo Niansheng, a world-renowned Scholar of Chinese Greek Culture, who has repeatedly transplanted ancient Greek tragedies with traditional Chinese opera and staged them in many countries. He shared the topic of the fusion of Eastern and Western drama for audiences in both countries. Ms. Lydia Konorzu shared her teaching experience at the Shanghai Theater Academy to explore the similarities and differences in Chinese and Greek theater performance and drama education. Mr. Stasis Livasinos was invited to direct the ancient Greek tragedy Agamemnon for the National Theatre of China, and shared his experience in cross-cultural and cross-context theatre practice in this dialogue.
At the event site, a video clip of the Yue opera "Oedipus King" was played, which was co-created by Mr. Li Liuyi and Ms. Mao Weitao, in which Ms. Mao Weitao played the Oedipus King. During the dialogue, Ms. Mao Weitao took this as the focus to elaborate on "transgender performances", highlighting the similarity, mutual knowledge and blindness of the dramas of the ancient civilizations of the two countries, and Mr. Li Liuyi made a keynote elaboration on "returning to classical civilization". It is reported that in order to show respect for the ancient civilizations of the two countries, in addition to the theater version, the Fragment of the Yue opera version of "King Oedipus" also went to the site of liangzhu ancient city of the world cultural heritage to record the exterior version.
The relevant leaders of the Department of Culture and Tourism of Zhejiang Province said that the "Zhaojian Sino-Greek Theater Dialogue" activity of the 2021 Chinese Hellenic Year of Culture and Tourism is a dialogue with art, a dialogue with civilization, a dialogue with history, and a dialogue with the future.
Author: Liu Haibo
Editor: Fu Xinxin