Cooking a dream
Inspired by a novel by SHEN Jiji ,
Director : HUANG Ying
Duration : One hour
Translation : WANG Zi, RUVIDITCH Ivan
Artistic Director : MENG Jinghui
With: FU Weibo, DONG Wenliang, YUAN Yue, ZHANG Tian, LIU Zhengzhi
Music: SHI Zhuohong
Producer: AN Ying
Set design: WU Wenchao
Lighting Designer: HAN Dong
Costume Designer: WANG Yan
Multimedia: CHEN Lei
Stage Manager: ZHU Bonan
Lighting Manager: WEN Xiaonan
Assistant Director: XING Hao
Administrator: SUN Weitong
Production and staging in France: WANG jing
Assistant de coordination et surtitrage: SIO Ut
Production: Full Show Lane Studio
Coproduction in France: Hybridités France-Chine
This production has been organised in collaboration with the Embassy of the People’s Republic of China in the French Republic, as part of Chinese New Year celebrations.
Performance :
January 30rd at 20H at Théâtre Simenon de la Ville de Rosny Sous-Bois
February 1st at 20H30 at Auditorium de La Fondation Louis Vuitton
February 2nd at 20H30 at Auditorium de La Fondation Louis Vuitton
February 4th at 20H at Théâtre Claude Lévi-Strauss du Musée du quai Branly (with invitation)
February 5th at 20H at Théâtre Claude Lévi-Strauss du Musée du quai Branly (with reservation)
Conference et demonstration :
February 2nd at 17H at Institut national d’histoire de l’art, Salle walter benjamin
Synopsis ofCooking a Dream
It takes a minute to recite a fair Tang poem
an hour to cook a pot of tasty millet
a century to experience a vacillating life
and a millennium to fathom a Chinese philosophy
The curtain opens on the young scholar who laments his impoverished existence to a Taoist priest. When the Taoist elder offers the youth a pillow to rest his head on, he lies down, falls asleep and dreams an entire life… By the time he wakes up, the millet porridge is cooked. The pot of millet dictates the length of the performance, and the actors encourage the audience to enjoy its flavour and aroma.
Cooking a Dream is an adaptation for the stage of a novel from Zhenzhong Ji (The Story in the Pillow), a collection of dream-fuelled tales that dates from the Tang dynasty. The traditional tale has inspired a fresh perspective on Chinese cultural identity. This poetic and contemporary production, which draws on the form of Xiqu (Chinese opera), weaves together tradition, modernity, and the mortal and spiritual worlds.