Peony Pavillion

Yesterday, we watched Peony Pavillion at the Palais Theatre in St Kilda. Quite different to the Peony Pavillion ballet performed in the Arts Centre last year, this one showcased Chinese dance instead. I had stumbled on the show by accident while surfing the Net but boy, am I glad I went for it!

Peony Pavillion is a Chinese opera play written in the Ming Dynasty. A full length PP chinese opera can reach 20 hours! Thankfully, this PP was only 3 hours. The dancing was superb. The choreographer showed the audience the versatility of the cast by mixing acrobatics, chinese dance, chinese opera moves and contemporary dance in the show. The props were amazing and brilliantly used. There was a scene with a set of 3 - 4 chinese wooden doors used to show the comings and goings of the people in the house which I thought was cleverly set.

The choreographer captured the essence of PP in this show with interesting scenes and on a nice pace. It also helped a great deal that the synopsis of each act is clearly displayed on two large tv screens on either side of the stage to provide context to the audience. I wish they would do the same for ballets, so that the audience can understand the background of each act without having to buy a programme.

The show ran for only 2 sessions. Perhaps it was due to the lack of publicity but it was a little surprising that the theatre was not fully packed on the opening night.