Reasons for the way we did what we did

We changed our idea once again and decided to use Chinese Opera as a mode to tell our fairytale story. We decided that we wouls keep to the same classic story,but just chnage the mode of presentation to chinese Opera. But this in itself was a crazy hard task!

1) We decided to keep the structure of Opera as far as costume and makeup were concerned. Also, we tried to base the characters in Cinderella as close to the Chinese stereotypes as possible, thus making it easier to match the costume and make up.

2) Chinese Opera in itself is a HUGE genre, so we decidede to narrow it down to something that was more recent and famous so that our audience might be able to make some connection to the chracters, be it through costume or makeup. Beijing or Peking Opera was decided on as it is one of the latest tradition of Opera and is recognized world wide. We felt that this modern version oif Opera would be better to use as it does incorporate certain elements that have come about with modernization. The makeup for example is now thicker than it was before as now the indoor performance theatres have stage lights, and do not depend on natural lighting.

3) After talking to people in the Opera industry and also reading up, we found out that the singing in Opera was what made it so special. However, we decided that we would have to let go of the singing as it was a second barrier or double alienation for the audience, something that we did not want. They would not be used to seeing youths on stage dresed in Opera costumes and singing in english. This would only cause them to laugh, and thus hinder their ability and concentration on the play as a whole. Also, we felt that if singing were to be added, it would seem like a satire and a mockery of Chinese Opera, something that we are definately not trying or want to do. Furthurmore, after doing some research we found a play which was a chinese adaptation of Shakespears 'Taming of the shrew'. In this Opera performnace, there was more dialogue than sound, and the whole play was at a much faster pace inorder to accomidate the modern audience in 2001. Thus, using this as our example, we decided to incorporate faster dialogue in our production.

4) The story line in Chinese Opera is very straight forward. However, inorder to appeal and to capture the audiences attention as well as enable them to be able to connect with the piece, we have decided to modernize it. The aspects that we are changing is the chracters themselves. We have decided to make the step sister a person who has been greatly influenced by the American culture, and thus tries to be 'ang moh'. The Godfather in contrast is a chinese man, woth the typical accent, trying his best to fit in and move with the time, but failing to do so.

5) As far as movement in concerned, we wil be trying to stay as close to Chinese Opera as possible. We have done research on it, watched videos on it and are going to attend a workshop soon to work out what movement differentiates each character from one another and how one must go about acting Opera.

6) The reason we are using the story of Cinderella is because it has a very fariy tale, unrealistic element to it, something dreamy. That is what we are trying to achieve here. Opera is not something that you see in everyday life, the actions are exaggerated to a certain extent for emphasis and many of the movemnets are not seen in real life today either. Why Cinderela one might ask, arent Operas about politics and state affairs? Well yes, they did have a certain amount of politics in it, but as China began to be influenced by modernization, the joint family unit broke down, leading to may smaller family units and in some cases just the couples. Thus, this chnage broiught about a chnage in the Opera culture as well, after all the Opera was catered to the people's tastes and preferences and also chnaged with the times. Thus in the 20th and 21st century, Opera began to show plays that revolved around love and how it overcomes all things in the end.