In 2000, in the rehearsal room of the University of California, Berkeley, a group of students presented the first version of “Dream Like a Dream” for more than three hours. After that, Teacher Lai returned to Taipei National University of the Arts to complete the rest of the content. “Dream Like a Dream” was born, and the performance lasted 8 hours.
In 2002, the Hong Kong Repertory Theater produced “A Dream Like a Dream” for the first time and performed it professionally in the theater. In 2005, “Dream Like a Dream” co-produced by[Performance Workshop]and Taipei University of the Arts was performed at the Taipei Two Halls. In 2013, “Dream Like a Dream” came to the mainland, and it was produced and staged again in Hong Kong in 2019…
On the 23rd anniversary of the creation of “Dream Like a Dream”, we grandly launched the exclusive version of “Dream Like a Dream” at Lai Shengchuan’s exclusive theater – Shang Theater!
Written and directed by Lai Shengchuan, famous actors Ni Ni (as Gu Xianglan C), Wenwen (as No. 5 B), Feng Li (as Jiang Hong), Zhao Xiaosu (as Wang Debao A), Zong Juntao (as Wang Debao B), Dou Jin (as Wang Debao B) Gu Xianglan B), Jin Jing, Li Qian, Gu Xuewei, Ma Jingwen, Si Wen, Ding Shanshan, Fan Xiuzhu, He Panpan, Ni Shunjie, Zhao Xiaobin; Yang Zhibin, Wang Meng, Yang Yi, Weng Leibin, Yuan Xinli, Yang Yuguang, Chen Guohui, Feng Yugang, Wang Bingkun, Qi Le starring, and specially invited national first-class actor Liu Wanling (played as Gu Xianglan A) to join in, and “fashion godmother” Huang Wei to take charge of costume design.
In the Shanghai Theater in 2023, we would like to walk into this story of “seeing yourself” with everyone again, and walk into dreams within dreams together.
Twenty-two years ago, Chinese dramatist Lai Shengchuan, who had been engaged in theater creation for 20 years, began to question himself again. “Dream Like a Dream” was born at the turn of the century in 2000, and it answered this question in a breakthrough and comprehensive way. The creation of “Like a Dream” was inspired by Lai Shengchuan’s “Slow Cooking”: During a trip to Europe, he saw a painting by Jan Brueghel the Elder. The content of this painting is A whole wall of paintings on display. This “picture-in-picture” work brought a very long title to Lai Shengchuan’s mind: “In a story, someone had a dream; in that dream, someone told a story”.
Later, when he was traveling in India, he saw monks circling the stupas, walking in and out around the holiest stupas. What is the most sacred thing in the theater? The question came back to him again, and the answer was the audience.
So Mr. Lai boldly put the audience in the center of the stage, and the actors walked around the auditorium, forming a “lotus pond”, thus creating a precedent for the circular theater. It was also during this trip to India that the past life experiences and stories heard were all connected together. Lai Shengchuan completed the outline of “A Dream Like a Dream” under the big tree in Bodh Gaya.
The story goes from Taipei, to Paris, and then to Shanghai; the time spans from the 20th century to the 21st century, spanning a hundred years. In the surrounding story, Lai Shengchuan takes us into the life journey of many characters in the play from a “panoramic” perspective . Drama and film critic Zhou Liming once commented on “Dream Like a Dream”: “It is a major milestone in Chinese drama, and it may also be the greatest Chinese drama in history.”
Ni Ni, Wenwen, etc. join the exclusive edition of “Dream Like a Dream”
Presented by 28 actors including the Shanghai Opera Troupe
Huang Wei leads the fashion design
Friends who have watched “Thirteen Corner Relationships” must be surprised by the many stunning looks in the play, all of which come from the “fashion godmother” Huang Wei.
This time, Huang Wei and Ms. Lai cooperated again to bring a feast of clothing across Taipei, Paris, Shanghai and Normandy.
The Yellow Sea Creates a Dream Poster
After designing posters for “Once Upon a Time” in 2019, the famous poster designer Huang Hai also made another move to create posters for the exclusive edition of “A Dream Like a Dream”. “A dream in a story, a story in a dream, so overlapping, endless, and eternity gathered in an instant.” In the poster, we seem to be able to explore the many codes of “Dream Like a Dream” through a kaleidoscope…
Follow the “Exclusive Edition” into your dream
What is an exclusive edition? As the name suggests, it is a version exclusive to the theater. In 2017, the exclusive version of “Secret Love in Peach Blossom Spring” was born in Shanghai Theater, and opened up a “Drama Peach Blossom Spring” in the center of Shanghai where you can come anytime and anywhere. In 2020, the exclusive version of “A Village on Treasure Island” will also be performed by the actors of the Shanghai Opera Troupe, so that more audiences can enter the theater to see the sadness, laughter and tears of the villagers. The exclusive version of “Dream Like a Dream”, as another “exclusive” classic launched by Shanghai Theater, will use this as the soil to let this dream continue.
This time, the exclusive edition of “Dream Like a Dream” will also be billed in full form. You can read the first and second volumes in one go, and experience this 8-hour dream more completely. We look forward to meeting you in the upper theater!
What is worth looking forward to is that at the end of this year, Taipei[Performance Workshop]is also simultaneously conducting the production and rehearsal of “Dream Like a Dream”, and the premiere will begin on December 27 at Taipei Two Halls.
At that time, Taipei and Shanghai will successively bring two versions of “Dream Like a Dream” performance. Different spaces, this dream that happened in the theater, we are closely connected, let us walk into the common dream in the play, and experience the life in different poses and with different expressions in the dream.
Show Information
Billing time⊙
December 5 (Monday) 12:00
Platinum card and gold card ticketing for theaters
December 5 (Monday) 17:00
Unlimited card types, comprehensive invoicing
Performance times⊙
January 12, 2023 (Thursday)
January 13, 2023 (Friday)
January 14, 2023 (Saturday)
January 15, 2023 (Sunday)
January 17, 2023 (Tuesday)
time ⊙
14:00 (Uemoto) 19:30 (Shimomoto)
*The upper and lower books are the same ticket
Performance location⊙
Upper Theater (5th Floor, Metro City, Xujiahui, Shanghai)
Performance ticket price (including the first and second book) ⊙
980 yuan/1500 yuan/2500 yuan/2800 yuan/3200 yuan/3500 yuan/3800 yuan/5000 yuan (lotus pond)
How to buy tickets⊙Go to the official website of the theater
Synopsis
The story begins with a “rookie” doctor who just entered the job. Xiaomei, a doctor who has just joined the job for one day, has experienced the life and death of patients and their families, and she couldn’t handle the problem of life and death immediately after graduating from medical school. She met the patient in bed No. 5. This patient suffered from a strange disease that could not be detected. Not only that, but he seemed to have something on his mind. The doctor hoped to find a breakthrough from him, and used a “self-exchange” method: Breathe into the patient, give your happiness to the patient, and suck away the pain of the patient. At her insistence, patient “No. 5” finally opened his mouth to tell his story. In the story of “No. 5”, we follow his steps and walk into his life, his life with his wife, and his peaceful life that gradually disappears. He also started from here, and while looking for a cure, he embarked on a journey that he couldn’t believe. He took a painting and went to find the person in the painting. From Taipei, to Paris, and then to Shanghai. For the person in the painting “Gu Xianglan” who can give her the answer, “No. 5” has been looking for it. And the life of Gu Xianglan, who used to be the headliner of Shanghai’s “Tianxian Pavilion” in the 1930s, was brilliant, full of twists and turns, and was finally fulfilled in the search of “No. 5”. In the nearly eight-hour story, the stories of the two lives are told slowly. In the interweaving of dreams and reality, a period of mandala-style surrounding life unfolds.
show review
A major milestone in Chinese drama, and possibly the greatest Chinese drama of all time.
——Zhou Liming, theater and film critic
“Dream Like a Dream” may be the most cosmic work in Chinese drama…This kind of richness is very rare, and it can only be created by artists whose artistic height reaches the level that ordinary audiences may be confused. Works with great breadth and depth can be witnessed.
——”China Daily”
This is a work full of spirituality, thinking and creativity…”Dream Like a Dream” shows the life experience of Ben Shi under the background of cultural conflict and communication in the context of globalization in the 20th century, full of attention to the individual and life. s concern.
—— “People’s Daily”
It is based on the “art of time and space” of drama, but it is not limited by time and space in common sense, and completely creates a new time and space for drama. “Dream Like a Dream” has true meaning, which makes people want to argue but forget the words.
——Zhu Guang, “Xinmin Evening News”
In his plays, everything is subtle and changing, and everything has deep and complex multiple meanings. Lai Shengchuan’s dramatic language cannot be imitated. A character played by several people will appear at the same time, which is actually a battle of skills, but the character has its own self and does not cheat, which reflects the layering of Mao Junhui’s “epic journey symphony”.
——”Hong Kong Economic Times”
What makes “A Dream Like a Dream” an epic is not its length and scale, but the depth and breadth of its cultural ambitions.
——The Straits Times
Screenwriter, Director⊙Lai Shengchuan
show ⊙
Ni Ni, Feng Li, Liu Wanling (specially invited), Dou Jin, Jin Jing, Li Qian, Gu Xuewei, Ma Jingwen, Si Wen, Ding Shanshan, Fan Xiuzhu, He Panpan, Ni Shunjie, Zhao Xiaobin
Article, Zhao Xiaosu, Zong Juntao, Yang Zhibin, Wang Meng, Yang Yi, Weng Leibin, Yuan Xinli, Yang Yuguang, Chen Guohui, Feng Yugang, Wang Bingkun, Qi Le
Stage design⊙Lai Shengchuan
Costume Design⊙Huang Wei
Poster Design⊙Yellow Sea
Producer⊙Ding NaizhuReturn to Sohu to see more