Curator: Tan Zeen
Stage Design: Junliang Shi
Interpretation of the theme
The Kunqu opera Gu Yanwu is a touching story happened during the period of the end of Ming Dynasty and the beginning of Qing Dynasty. In the turbulent changing situation of history, believing in that the saying “everyone is responsible for his country’s rise or fall” was also the spirit of the literati, the Chinese literati took the lead to make the tradition of context and literati of thousand years succeed to continue.
In the stage design works of contemporary Chinese opera, whether to be conservative or to explore and innovate is a question worth discussing and thinking about for Chinese stage design circles.
With the development of the society and science and technology, not only satisfied with “one table and two chairs” and “come on the stage from the entrance and go off the stage through the exit”, how to develop the stage design scheme of traditional Chinese opera into stage design modality that meets the contemporary aesthetic and appreciation is the direction of my practice, attempt and exploration in the stage design of the Kunqu opera Gu Yanwu.
Junliang Shi
– National first-class stage designer
– Master’s degree (academic) from Central Academy of Drama, majored in Stage Design of the department of stage art
– Bachelor’s degree from Shanghai Academy of Drama, majored in Stage Design.
– Former member of the front-line ensemble of political department of Nanjing Military Region
Representative Stage Design Works
Drama – Pigeon; The Whole Night in Sanwan; The Internationale
Dance Drama – Calvary (joint autorship); Chang’e Legend of the Moon (joint autorship); Solar Terms of River South
Kunqu Opera – Gu Yanwu; Celadon Movement (original Celadon Ou Music)
Musical – Life of Kouji (vocal mimicry performance art); Phoenix over the Cloud
Dance Performance – Xiao Cheng Yu Xiang (Alley in Rain of the Town) ; Parents ; ‘One Belt, One Road’ International Cooperation Forum Performance Event held in the National Centre for the Performing Arts, etc
Awards
– Lotus Award
– Wenhua Award for Stage Design
– Nominated for the 2022 World Stage Design Exhibition (WSD2022) of Emerging
Designers
– 2020 CISD China Pioneer Drama Young Designer Nomination Exhibition
– 2019 Beijing Stage Design Invitation Exhibition, invited to display the work
– General Designer of the float of Jiangsu for the parade of Pekin, honored as Advanced Individual for the float work of Jiangsu in the 70th Anniversary of the Founding of PRC Mass Parade
– Exhibitor in the 20th Anniversary Exhibition of Lotus Award（dance award of China) held in the National Centre for the Performing Arts
– Awarded the third-class merit three times during the military period, etc.