Girl’s Passion for Traditional Theater

Gu Yiting’s first exposure to theater occurred when she was in primary school. Her mother was a typical traditional homemaker in Taiwan: she stayed at home and took care of children. Due to her mother’s strict home discipline, Gu Yiting did not have much time to play outside. Her biggest pastime after school was television. Influenced by her mother, a fan of traditional theater, the girl gradually developed a passion for the Taiwan Opera. Dinner time often found her sit in front of the television, eating alone half-heartedly and feasting her eyes on the show. Her parents often teased her, saying that her dinner consisted of rice and a Taiwan Opera play. Senior relatives jokingly suggested she take a performing career when she grew up.

The little girl was fascinated by the dramatized romances on television and became most attracted to these young actors. Often dressed up with a blanket as cloak, a rope as sash and a stick as sword, she loved to imagine herself as a young man and acted out a story of her own or a story she had watched on television. Occasionally she put up a show for her fellow playmates or her parents and relatives.

The televised Taiwan Opera plays in her childhood years opened her up to history, costumes, and ancient poetry. Her middle school years coincided with the disappearance of the Taiwan Opera plays from television. Traditional dramas faded out of her life as she busied herself with school work. It was not until her second college year that she found herself fascinated again by traditional dramas. She had just transferred from a collage in Jiayi to a college in Taipei, a city with a lot of cultural activities. One day she chanced upon a poster advertising a Kunqu Opera play entitled “Butterfly Dream” and upon the impulse of the moment, she bought a ticket. The beauty of the modern adaptation of an ancient play moved her almost to tears and brought her back to the world of traditional operas.

After the chance rediscovery, Gu Yiting began to look around for more opera plays. Pretty soon, she found herself subjected to the charms of Peking Opera, Kunqu Opera, and Taiwan Opera in Taipei, a big stage for various traditional operas in the island province.

In her third college year, she studied selected arias of traditional operas in a required course taught by Professor Li Chongyuan. The professor had studied western theater overseas and had been one of the script writers of Lord Bao, a historical blockbuster drama on television. With a profound knowledge in traditional operas and mastery of Chinese literature, the professor often performed in the class and demonstrated the essence of Peking Opera. This colorful course allowed Gu Yiting to peep into the secrets of traditional operas. One day, the professor asked if any of his students was willing to work for Hong Review, a publication about traditional operas in Taiwan. After a brief hesitation, Gu signed up to work as an assistant editor.

The review had been founded by Li Nenghong for the purpose of promoting traditional Chinese operas and boosting exchanges across the straits. His daughter took over the publication after the founder/owner passed away. Inexperienced, the daughter had to stop the operation after running it half a year. The professor was approached by the daughter to resume the review. Friends also encouraged the professor. The professor finally took over the paper. It was after the professor’s takeover that he asked his students for help.

Under the guidance of the professor, Gu learned a lot about journalism and about the people and events in the circles of the traditional operas, things that could not be learned in a classroom. Thanks to her passion and her writing capability, she gradually became well known within the circles of traditional operas.

Her childhood passion for performing traditional operas was rekindled after her work at the publication. Since then she has felt that it is her mission to help promote the culture of theater. In Taiwan, there are young performers who are determined to carry on the theatrical tradition, but the dilemma is that younger audiences are reluctant to be lured into theaters. The solution, in Gu’s eyes, is to create attractive plays and innovate stage presentation. And she also believes that the exchanges between the young across the straits will help too.

Nowadays, Gu Yiting takes part in performing. One of the big roles she has played is a lead woman in plays of Thunder Glove Puppetry in Taiwan. She wants to do more. She plans to write attractive plays in future for troupes in Taiwan. Her aim is to introduce modern elements and carry on tradition. She dreams that one day her plays will allure the young back into theater and make them go wild.