From December 28 to 31, the Chinese National Peking Opera Theater will host the Monkey King in the Gallus Hall of Cankarjev dom. The show, in which more than 50 actors are masters of acrobatics and martial arts at the same time, is a feast for the eyes with its intricate make-up art and rich costumes.
CNPOC (The China National Peking Opera Company) is a theater founded in 1955 with the task of preserving the cultural heritage of a unique Chinese theater genre that dates back to the 13th century and is called "Chinese opera". One of the genres of this rich genre is "Peking Opera" or "Jing-Zhu", which is about the art and skill of acting and thus has practically nothing in common with Western opera (although the actor is accompanied by an orchestra of traditional Chinese instruments).
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The Monkey King is one of the most famous jing-ju, as the main character Sun Wukong (or Monkey King) is the main character of one of the four Chinese classic novels Journey to the West from the 16th century. It is a miraculous character who masters various magical skills and therefore only the Buddha can match him. In the play, we follow his adventures when, as a companion of the Buddhist monk Svan Dzang, he embarks on a long journey, on which he must transfer the original Buddhist scriptures from India to China.
The show The Monkey King will be a unique feast for the eyes on the stage of the Gallus Hall, as more than 50 actors who are masters of martial arts and acrobatics will perform in rich oriental costumes. Every actor does his own make-up before the performance, which takes as much as 2 hours due to the sophisticated art of make-up that belongs to this genre. December 28 and 29 we will be able to see the show at 7 p.m., December 30 at 6 p.m., December 31st and at 8:30 p.m.
More information and tickets:
www.cd-cc.si
