The Peony Pavilion

Synopsis

Beautiful Du Liniang falls asleep by the Peony Pavilion and dreams of Liu Mengmei, a lover she has never met. She wakes in despair and asks the Flower Goddess to find her lost love. Unable to find him, Liniang dies of a broken heart and is forced to turn to the Infernal Judge of the Underworld for help. Fei Bo's sensuous choreography is a mesmerising fusion of western classical ballet, complete with a full corps de ballet, and traditional Chinese dance. The Peony Pavilion is one of the most famous love stories in Chinese literature, a deeply romantic tale of the power of love to conquer death.

Our Review:

Michael Coveney - 14 August 2011

Breathtakingly beautiful, a story of dreams and lost love, snowflakes and rose petals, and told in a sensational synthesis of Oriental and European dance and music, the National Ballet of China’s The Peony Pavilion is a production more than worthy of any great international arts festival.

The most famous of all Chinese love stories was first performed as a 16th century opera. Classical ballet in China dates only from the 1950s, so the collision of cultures in this stunning production is both daring and revelatory.

The sleeping Du Liniang finds her ideal lover, Liu Mengmei, in her garden, thanks to the Flower Goddess, a cloaked beauty of insouciant inscrutability and authority, who glides around the stage as if on castors; she then loses him in the underworld, then finds him again.

The music is familiar Chinese opera style, with added percussion and sudden diversions into Debussy, Ravel, Holst and Prokofiev. Yet, magically, it all sounds consistent...

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Latest User Review

Claire Miles - 14 August 2011:

Purity of colour and form in the stage sets is remarkable. The use of strong architectural shapes counterpointing the dancers wonderfully highlights their humanity and liveliness. The strange sequence of events is dreamlike: it is a metaphysical dance opera. Act One orientates the audience and the second and final act immerses the audience in a profound emotional and sensory experience. It is a wonderful achievement, and the quality of the acting and dancing is superb. ...

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