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Wall Street Journal
July 5 2012
The Beauty in China, the Truth in Arkansas
By BARBARA CHAI
Director Atom Egoyan is known for his work on films such as "The Sweet
Hereafter" and "Chloe," but the Armenian-Canadian filmmaker has also
directed a number of stage productions. On July 26 his latest project,
the Chinese opera "Feng Yi TIng," will open at the Lincoln Center
Festival.
"Feng Yi Ting" tells the true story of Diao Chan (played by Shen
Tiemei), a Chinese courtesan caught in a rivalry between an aristocrat
and his godson during the Han Dynasty. To visualize a score by
composer Guo Wenjing, Mr. Egoyan employs shadow projections of
Terracotta Warriors and the actors' faces. He also uses traditional
shadow puppetry and animates the English and Chinese subtitles in
dynamic ways.
."As an opera director, I never lose sight of the fact that my primary
responsibility is to frame these supernatural voices," said Mr.
Egoyan, who worked with a translator on the Mandarin-language piece.
"That's the experience of opera, that's what we get thrilled by."
With the Lincoln Center opening of "Feng Yi Ting" three weeks away,
Mr. Egoyan is already in Atlanta filming "Devil's Knot," a feature
about the three Arkansas teenagers who were convicted of killing three
boys in 1994, maintained their innocence, and were set free last year
after agreeing to an Alford Plea.
The 51-year-old Egyptian-born director spoke with the Journal from
Atlanta recently.
You've directed a number of operas, but a Chinese opera is unexpected.
Guo Wenjing's music is just so beautiful and complex. I was attracted
to these long periods of music without text, so I thought that would
really be something that could be visually treated, and was rare for
an opera to have these spaces. I was attracted to this collision of
old and new throughout the actual project. I thought it would be
interesting to continue that through the visual eye, this clash of old
and new through costume, through the use of old theater technology
like shadow work, puppetry and digital wizardry.
How well does "Feng Yi Ting" translate to Western audiences?
The main experience with opera is the sung voice - the phenomenon of
seeing a human being emit that sound. Unamplified, it's unworldly.
This particular vocal technique with these two brilliant singers [Ms.
Shen, a soprano, and tenor Jiang Qihu] is unlike anything we've heard
in a Western context. The Western voice is grounded in a very
different place from where these people are singing from. The music is
wonderful and it's a very rich chromatic score using traditional ideas
of Chinese music, using a pentatonic scale and certainly the vocal
lines are very traditional.
You're now filming "Devil's Knot," a feature film about the West
Memphis Three. Reportedly, securing the rights and attaching the
real-life players to the project has been exceedingly difficult.
Yes, it has been very complicated. I think that ultimately what has
emerged that I'm very happy about is that two of the West Memphis
Three, Jason Baldwin and Jessie Misskelley, are executive producers on
this project. It gives them a chance to own some of their own story. I
think that Damien [Echols, the third member] feels he has his own
story to tell and I totally agree with him. I think there are many
stories to tell - this is a piece of mythology now. But the very real
fact is these three young men were in prison for 18 years and that to
me is so shocking in and of itself. Our story is set very much in
1993, in what happened in West Memphis around the case.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304141204577507114134162958.html
July 5 2012
The Beauty in China, the Truth in Arkansas
By BARBARA CHAI
Director Atom Egoyan is known for his work on films such as "The Sweet
Hereafter" and "Chloe," but the Armenian-Canadian filmmaker has also
directed a number of stage productions. On July 26 his latest project,
the Chinese opera "Feng Yi TIng," will open at the Lincoln Center
Festival.
"Feng Yi Ting" tells the true story of Diao Chan (played by Shen
Tiemei), a Chinese courtesan caught in a rivalry between an aristocrat
and his godson during the Han Dynasty. To visualize a score by
composer Guo Wenjing, Mr. Egoyan employs shadow projections of
Terracotta Warriors and the actors' faces. He also uses traditional
shadow puppetry and animates the English and Chinese subtitles in
dynamic ways.
."As an opera director, I never lose sight of the fact that my primary
responsibility is to frame these supernatural voices," said Mr.
Egoyan, who worked with a translator on the Mandarin-language piece.
"That's the experience of opera, that's what we get thrilled by."
With the Lincoln Center opening of "Feng Yi Ting" three weeks away,
Mr. Egoyan is already in Atlanta filming "Devil's Knot," a feature
about the three Arkansas teenagers who were convicted of killing three
boys in 1994, maintained their innocence, and were set free last year
after agreeing to an Alford Plea.
The 51-year-old Egyptian-born director spoke with the Journal from
Atlanta recently.
You've directed a number of operas, but a Chinese opera is unexpected.
Guo Wenjing's music is just so beautiful and complex. I was attracted
to these long periods of music without text, so I thought that would
really be something that could be visually treated, and was rare for
an opera to have these spaces. I was attracted to this collision of
old and new throughout the actual project. I thought it would be
interesting to continue that through the visual eye, this clash of old
and new through costume, through the use of old theater technology
like shadow work, puppetry and digital wizardry.
How well does "Feng Yi Ting" translate to Western audiences?
The main experience with opera is the sung voice - the phenomenon of
seeing a human being emit that sound. Unamplified, it's unworldly.
This particular vocal technique with these two brilliant singers [Ms.
Shen, a soprano, and tenor Jiang Qihu] is unlike anything we've heard
in a Western context. The Western voice is grounded in a very
different place from where these people are singing from. The music is
wonderful and it's a very rich chromatic score using traditional ideas
of Chinese music, using a pentatonic scale and certainly the vocal
lines are very traditional.
You're now filming "Devil's Knot," a feature film about the West
Memphis Three. Reportedly, securing the rights and attaching the
real-life players to the project has been exceedingly difficult.
Yes, it has been very complicated. I think that ultimately what has
emerged that I'm very happy about is that two of the West Memphis
Three, Jason Baldwin and Jessie Misskelley, are executive producers on
this project. It gives them a chance to own some of their own story. I
think that Damien [Echols, the third member] feels he has his own
story to tell and I totally agree with him. I think there are many
stories to tell - this is a piece of mythology now. But the very real
fact is these three young men were in prison for 18 years and that to
me is so shocking in and of itself. Our story is set very much in
1993, in what happened in West Memphis around the case.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304141204577507114134162958.html