Bai Xue Gong Zhu (Snow White)
A few weeks ago we attended a performance of Bai Xue Gon Zhu, or as we say in English, Snow White. There are countless of puppet and theater troupes that tour China and perform for a few nights. This was the second performance of Snow White we have seen since we've been here.
We attended the performance in the Longgang District of Shenzhen, the north-eastern part of the city and an area that has few foreigners. We went with some other Americans, so of course, until the production began we were subject to some stares.
The costumes were interesting. The look of the seven dwarves were clearly inspired by a certain Disney movie
while Snow White, the evil Queen, and the prince were possibly based on some anime version. If this is a really famous anime film, forgive me. It isn't my area of familiarity.
There were a few aspects of the performance that were, for me, Only-in-China experiences. For one, the level of audience participation was well-beyond the "clap your hands for Tinkerbell" thing. Of course, the audience was asked to yell at certain points, and cheer at others, though I am pretty sure that the hordes of children chasing after the Wicked Queen as she ran from the theater was not something you'd see at the Children's Theater in a town near you.
The other odd thing about this production involves an interesting contrast. To bring back to live Snow White the prince does not kiss her, as in the Disney movie. He admires her chastely from afar, plays his harp, and the poisoned apple falls from her mouth. While this would be more in line with the Grimms' original, though an unexpected deviation from the Disney version (if only because all things Disney are ridiculously popular here), it was interesting to contrast with.......the manner in which the Queen's servant obtains the boar's heart to deceive her.
Snow White initially befriends several woodland creatures, including a squirrel, a deer, and a boar.
When confronted with the Queen's servant needing to take a heart back to the Queen to prove that Snow White is dead, the boar steals the dagger from the servant. He threatens to kill himself so his heart can go in the place of Snow White's. Snow White asks the audience to beg him to stop. The children dutifully tell him to stop. This is repeated three times, and the boar proceeds with killing himself, the stage lights go to red, then fade to black. It was only right then did I understand what was going on, otherwise I would have filmed it. I had thought the boar was threatening to kill someone or something else.
When I asked my Chinese teacher about it later the following week, she said she had never heard of any such version of Bai Xue Gong Zhu that included the boar sacrificing himself for Snow White. It wasn't just strange to me as a foreigner; it was really strange. However, I am fairly certain that plot twist would not happen in the US.
We attended the performance in the Longgang District of Shenzhen, the north-eastern part of the city and an area that has few foreigners. We went with some other Americans, so of course, until the production began we were subject to some stares.
The costumes were interesting. The look of the seven dwarves were clearly inspired by a certain Disney movie
while Snow White, the evil Queen, and the prince were possibly based on some anime version. If this is a really famous anime film, forgive me. It isn't my area of familiarity.
There were a few aspects of the performance that were, for me, Only-in-China experiences. For one, the level of audience participation was well-beyond the "clap your hands for Tinkerbell" thing. Of course, the audience was asked to yell at certain points, and cheer at others, though I am pretty sure that the hordes of children chasing after the Wicked Queen as she ran from the theater was not something you'd see at the Children's Theater in a town near you.
The other odd thing about this production involves an interesting contrast. To bring back to live Snow White the prince does not kiss her, as in the Disney movie. He admires her chastely from afar, plays his harp, and the poisoned apple falls from her mouth. While this would be more in line with the Grimms' original, though an unexpected deviation from the Disney version (if only because all things Disney are ridiculously popular here), it was interesting to contrast with.......the manner in which the Queen's servant obtains the boar's heart to deceive her.
Snow White initially befriends several woodland creatures, including a squirrel, a deer, and a boar.
When confronted with the Queen's servant needing to take a heart back to the Queen to prove that Snow White is dead, the boar steals the dagger from the servant. He threatens to kill himself so his heart can go in the place of Snow White's. Snow White asks the audience to beg him to stop. The children dutifully tell him to stop. This is repeated three times, and the boar proceeds with killing himself, the stage lights go to red, then fade to black. It was only right then did I understand what was going on, otherwise I would have filmed it. I had thought the boar was threatening to kill someone or something else.
When I asked my Chinese teacher about it later the following week, she said she had never heard of any such version of Bai Xue Gong Zhu that included the boar sacrificing himself for Snow White. It wasn't just strange to me as a foreigner; it was really strange. However, I am fairly certain that plot twist would not happen in the US.
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