Cats! But make it Chinese Opera! When I posted the initial exploration art of Tugger I had mainly referenced Peking Opera, but since then I think the style has grown to be a combination of multiple genres of opera haha
Since they are both sons of Old Deuteronomy, I wanted them to have elaborate costumes and roles that will stand out amongst the others! Tugger is playing the 武小生 (Wu Xiao Sheng) role and Munkustrap is playing the 长靠武生 (Chang Kao Wu Sheng) role. 武生 are martial characters and warriors, Munkustrap’s specific role is a high ranking warrior defined by using a polearm while Tugger plays a younger warrior. Although my explanation is short there are actually a lot more details regarding the difference in singing tone, costumes, and personality between each role! I’ve only started researching about this when i started this project so unfortunately I am still not very knowledgeable about Chinese Opera ><; but hopefully I get to learn more as I continue exploring with this project 🥰
The Chinese text in the box behind Munkustrap reads: The Hero Cat
The Chinese text in the box behind Tugger reads: The Rock and Roll Cat
I am presently preparing for final exams and wrapping up my final case studies for this semester, but I would like to share an opera that features Nezha outside of the widely known Havoc in Heaven where he is in combat with Sun Wukong. Today, we are going to discuss the opera Chentangguan (陳塘關), known also as The Birth of Nezha (哪吒出世) and Nezha Fights the Sea (哪吒鬧海).
The plot of this opera closely follows the origin story of Nezha as is featured within Canonization of the Gods. A defined year for when this opera was initially performed is unclear, though it was written by Xiao Rongchun and appeared within a registry of operas that featured a 'celebratory ascension' in 1824; an online record of this appears here from the Opera Culture Network.
Outside of Peking Opera, Qin Opera, Hui Opera, and Szechuan Opera also regard the performance as Nezha Fights the Sea whereas Hengqi Opera regards it as Golden Pagoda. The opera is present within Gui Opera, Hunan Opera, Chenhe Opera, and Handiao Erhuang (A form of folk opera exclusive to Shaanxi Province originating in 1807) though it is not as prominent.
This opera alongside it's contemporary art forms also focused heavily on the martial arts aspect of Chinese Opera in regards to Nezha and the varying methods his story was retold. Within this post is a brief taste of how this opera was performed, Nezha himself being played by Xu Yingying in this recording.
The full hour long performance can be found here, though it is not nearly as cinematic and was recorded from a considerable distance.
“Many have used Shakespeare’s work as a vessel to portray their own traditions and creativity in order to catch up with the times. We are no different. When traditional opera is gradually losing its audience, how do we renew the value of this performance art?”
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“We didn’t change the story background or the characters’ names. The 21st-century world is borderless – everyone already knows the story. We wanted to authentically show the richness of Julius Caesar and to directly insert our performance art in a Western theatre context.”
“That’s why many of my costumes still have water sleeves,” he adds. In Chinese opera, water sleeves are silk extensions to the cuff of garments used to produce ripple-like movements and represent different emotions.
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The Peking opera version of Julius Caesar will introduce a new character – a modern-day scholar documenting ancient Roman ruins with a digital camera.