Peking Opera

I first became interested in the Peking Opera when watching the Chinese New Year TV spectacular that happens every year. It's hard to describe what it is, but I'm guessing you know what I'm talking about. People say funny things in high pitched voices, have crazy elaborate costumes on, and sometimes do martial arts or acrobatic style dancing and tricks. These shenanigans are hilariously punctuated by these Chinese instruments that I don't know the name of but sound kind of like cymbals on LSD, violins on crack, and that dude on Telegraph that plays a saw. Anyway, I recently read this in "Foreign Babes in Beijing" by Rachel Dewoskin: "Television acting [in China] is the love child of the studied, exaggerated movements and vocals of the Peking Opera, and the melodrama of socialist theater." That's when I decided I had to experience it close up.

Michelle is a drama major, so I figured she would be into it as well. I asked her and she agreed to look into it. She found the ChaoYang theater troupe (Michelle: translation?) which is quite convenient to us. We went last night, springing for the good seats, which were worth every 分 (fen, penny). What a show!! There was a little of everything, and I found myself laughing, gasping, sighing and genuinely enjoying every second. One thing I particularly enjoyed was the musicians, who sat in the front row, playing to the actors. They were a real mix of people, young and old, guys and one lady, who were casually talking and drinking tea before the show started. It really seemed as if this was a crew of old friends who were doing this more for fun than any other reason. They seemed to be enjoying the show as much as we were. Another high point was the little kid who kept peeking out from the curtain behind the stage. Each time he appeared, one of the musicians would furiously gesture him away and he would disappear behind the curtain. Michelle later told me that at those times, the musician would nervously glance back at us to make sure we weren't pissed off or anything. I never even noticed since I was too busy giggling and laughing.

The guys were incredible athletes and dancers. They did a lot of the gymnastic style flips, looking at any moment as if they would go careening off the postage stamp sized stage and into the seats, but they stomped every single landing. There was one incredible guy who did a lot of stick twirling, throwing, juggling and the like. I remarked to Michelle that it's a good thing I didn't have one of those sticks at home, because I would surely injure myself trying to imitate that guy's crazy moves. (As I write this, I am making a mental note to find one of those sticks!) There was only one girl. Her voice was *amazing*. She had some vocal cords, let me tell you. I never really believed it would be possible to break glass with a human voice, but she inspired me to revise my opinion of that idea.

Anyway, it was really, really cool. I didn't take any pictures because I wasn't sure of the etiquette of that in the tiny theater, so you'll just have to take my word for it. Either that, or come to Beijing and see one for yourself!