Taiwanese traditional opera troupe Ming Hwa Yuan Arts & Cultural Group (MHY, 明華園戲劇總團) received warm responses during its debut performance on Feb. 6 at the International Theatre Festival of Kerala (ITFoK), which takes place from Feb. 5 to 14 in India.
MHY's performance comprised two parts, "Lovebird Spears (鴛鴦槍)" and "General of the Empire (護國將軍)," successfully capturing the attention of Indian audiences. On the following day, the troupe's excellent performance attracted extensive coverage of the event by local media agencies.
On Feb. 7, a talk and a second round of live performances took place. MHY director Chen Chao-hsien (陳昭賢), along with opera actresses Chen Chao-ting (陳昭婷), Mina Wu (吳米娜), and interpreter Chang Chia-chun (張佳君), participated in the talk with the renowned Indian theatre director Chandradasan, who highly acclaimed MHY for its brilliant performance and creative stage design. During the talk, the audience demonstrated a high level of interest in the differences between Taiwan's traditional opera and China's Peking opera.
MYH director Chen Chao-hsien stated that the Indian edition is only a one-tenth scale of the Taiwanese edition. Despite the smaller scale, Indian audiences still had a magnificent experience throughout the live performances. She mentioned that to resonate with international audiences, the Indian version specially combined with Bollywood dance and local languages.
Besides public performance, on Feb. 8, MHY conducted demonstration lessons at the School of Drama and Fine Arts of the University of Calicut and the St. Thomas College. During the lessons, actress Chen Chao-ting shared a pedagogy that created by Taiwanese opera diva Sun Tsui-feng (孫翠鳳) with participants, with the hope that foreign audiences can experience the beauty of Taiwanese traditional opera.
(Photo credit: Ming Hwa Yuan Arts & Cultural Group)