Liyuan Opera Red Wedding Bed – Shanghai Dramatic Arts Center, Shanghai

About this event

Red Wedding Bed is described as a co-production of the Hong Kong Arts Festival and the Fujian Liyuan Opera Inheritance Centre, based on the Liyuan classic Chen San and Wuniang. The production combines traditional Liyuan performance with modern dramaturgy. Liyuan opera is described as nearly nine centuries old and associated with Song-Yuan southern theatre. The staging centers on the scene Great Melancholy from the ancient script. Wuniang's longing on the red wedding bed becomes the point of departure for a play-within-a-play rather than a conventional linear presentation. Dream, memory, and reality are interwoven across two timeframes, while the seven qiziban role types move between the two theatrical worlds, connecting the historical performance tradition with the production's contemporary dramaturgical structure.