London festival rolls out Asian-only Turandot
NewsThe Grimeborn Festival – no relation to Glyndebourne – has cast a Puccini Turandot with ‘creatives and artists from the Asian diaspora.’
The reason? ‘Turandot was essentially banned in China for most of the twentieth century; this new production co-directed by Olivier Award nominated librettist Becca Marriott and Southeast Asian director-writer Iskandar إسكندر R. Sharazuddin aims to challenge racist stereotypes that paint East Asian women as either subservient, cruel, or hyper-sexual as well as the historic and contemporary use of Yellowface in theatre, opera, and on-screen.’
They add: ‘This unnervingly relevant reinterpretation tackles head-on the work’s orientalist tropes and reflects on the new role the Far East plays as a modern, technological superpower.’
Yeah – we neither.
But do they sing good?
Ah so. We must wait to hear sing song.
My sentiment exactly. Turandot is a very difficult role and you need a top voice to do it justice. Opera is about the voice. Years ago nobody thought it strange if an obese soprano played the lead role in La Traviata so long as she could sing the part.
Sounds great – always interesting to see refreshes of classic works alongside more traditional approaches, and it’s important to challenge the stereotypes.
When one smashes a stereotype, look to it that another stereotype does not replace it …
Just think that today some people would try to “cancel” Birgit Nilsson as Turandot! The horror!
I hope they replaced all the violins with erhus…gotta be authentic!
You may jest, but check out the Suzhou Chinese Orchestra which plays Mahler (as well as contemporary pieces) with ethnic Chinese instruments. The effect and the skill is stunning. I am a huge fan.
Is binding all those different people under a single umbrela not a demonstration of ortientalism – or even racism? No one will ever dare describe a pure italian cast as “European”.
Of course they would! What a stupid comment.
They give themselves away if they really wrote about “the Far East”. Very Eurocentric.
I wonder the same.
It’s set in China, so shouldn’t they all be Chinese? Casting Japanese and Korean singers etc kinda has an undertone of “they all look the same, it’s close enough.” Doesn’t it? If you’re going to be literalist about it, be literal about it or what’s the point?
I worry that we don’t see enough pale redheads singing Lucia di Lammermoor; and there’s forever the problem of swarthy Italians and Spaniards singing the roles in Macbeth.
Actually I don’t worry, as that would be silly.
I commend them for their effort but they are surely far from the first with an all Asian cast. The Japanese director Keita Asari directed a cast with all Asians (it may even have been all Japanese) in the Japanese roles at La Scala in 1985.
Groundbreaking.
What don’t you understand? It’s written in plain English.
I wish people would stop inventing words, I can’t keep up. What on earth does hyper sexual mean, do I need to know?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypersexuality
Yikes!
Is the Prince of Persia played by an Iranian?
Iran is an Islamic Republic. It has no princes. And no one can “play” with that.
Am I the only one whose eyes glaze over whenever I read or hear the word ‘relevant’ in relation to the arts?
You gotta have a gimmick, no matter how racist.
I hope all the artists were Japanese!
Listen to their Turandot here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tyYqoF99sTY&t=63s
Ummm . . .
There’s enough nationalist supremacy in this story’s tangled history to occupy any well-meaning director. Carlo Gozzi based his 1762 play on “The Story of Prince Calaf and the Princess of China” from “The Thousand and One Days,” a collection of Persian tales compiled by François Pétis de la Croix (https://books.google.com/books?id=dD0RAAAAMAAJ&printsec=frontcover). So right away, you know that the Persian prince will get the upper hand in this story, despite coming across as either a suicidal dummy or a guy who’s so full of himself that surely no one could bear to be around him.
Let’s cut the East Asians some slack here and let them have their way with the story. If I could complete the final scene, it would go something like this:
The Emperor Altoum visits the dead Liu and is horrified to discover an amulet around her neck that had belonged to his baby girl, who was kidnapped 20 years before. Turandot’s heart melts when she realizes that this is the long lost baby sister she never knew, and inspired by Liu’s sacrifice, her feelings for Calaf turn tender. Calaf reveals his name and she agrees to marry him, but Ping, Pang and Pong remind everyone that the sacred edict is still in effect and must be carried out. Calaf loses his head, and the grief-stricken Turandot throws herself on the executioner’s axe.
Don’t give up your day job…