Shanghai stages have been spoiled by international hits from Phantom of the Opera to Elisabeth, but Chen Wencong International Theater plans to introduce the city to Athol Fugard. The Lifetime Tony Award winner has been praised by Time as the “greatest active playwright in the English-speaking world,” and three of his anti-apartheid classics are taking over Shanghai Culture Square.
Based on real-life events, three of Fugard’s most searing shows will make their Mainland debut. Set during South Africa’s notorious apartheid era, My Children! My Africa (Sep 8-13), The Island (Sep 22-26) and The Train Driver (Oct 9-11) were banned from public performances at the time.
Stage reading from My Children! My Africa!
Ever resourceful, Fugard found the perfect alternative venue to bring his message to the masses. Their shows were staged at a serpent pit with his troupe adopting the name Serpent Players.
“That’s why we’re thrilled to be performing at Shanghai Culture Square’s KFS Outdoor Theater. It opens up so many possibilities for the actors to interact with the audience,” raves Chen.
The Shanghai native has been pursuing theatrical dreams since founding a Chinese drama club as a student at Emory University. As a director, producer and playwright of Zhao, he was awarded one of America’s highest undergraduate honors, the Louis Sudler Prize in the Arts.
However, his knowledge broadened last year serving as Broadway Asia Company’s manager in China. “The experience was great, but my heart was still yearning to do my own theatrical works,” he says.
Stage reading from The Train Driver
Last year, he staged his comeback production Blind, which involved artists from Ghana, India and Beijing. The adaptation of the Indian epic Mahabharata was chosen for inclusion into the Shanghai International Arts Festival.
Now spearheading his own theater, Chen feels obliged to champion lesser-known works.
“Every drama major knows Athol Fugard and it’d be a great shame for the public to overlook great works by writers with less mainstream plays,” he says.
Chen Wencong
For the show, he’s recruited British Pakistani director Shahzad A. Jan. The Nigerian-born, London-raised Jan connects with Fugold’s works due to his background and relishes his role working with actors like Deji Odunlami (Little Shop of Horrors) and Philip Boafo.
As a master’s graduate at Shanghai Theatre Academy, the Ghanian-born Boafo had shelved his acting dreams to pursue law. However, he’s had a change of heart upon realizing that “law only comes in to defend people when they get into trouble, whereas theater could actually stop people from getting into trouble.”
All of the performances will have English and Chinese subtitles. It’s the launch for what Chen hopes will be the first truly international drama theater in Shanghai.
Already, he’s looking towards his next project, collaborating with a Swiss director on a children’s drama.
“I feel that so-called children’s plays have underestimated children’s intelligence,” he says. “I’m going to do a more realistic and down-to-earth children’s play this time around.”
// My Children! My Africa!: Sep 8-13, 7.30pm, RMB180. Shanghai Culture Square, tickets.
// The Island: Sep 22-26, 7.30pm, RMB180. Shanghai Culture Square, tickets.
// The Train Driver: Oct 9-11, 7.30pm, RMB180. Shanghai Culture Square, tickets.
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