Life between Heaven and Earth

image_pdfimage_print

The Play
Life between Heaven and Earth was adapted according to the novel The True Story of Ah Q written by Lu Xun, a famous Chinese writer. It was a cold rainy night with a bleak autumn wind. A-kui was beheaded for the crime of "Revolutionary Party". His soul, not dispersed, was wandering in Wei Zhuang, his living place before death. The spirit looked back on his short life and searched for the cause of his miserable fate. He consulted the wise men, asked the noble lords in Wei Zhuang, and even inquired from his enemy, but there was no result. He was confused by his funny death and hated the coldness of the world. Finally, the spirit of the dead, self-questioning in confusion and anger, sighed helplessly about the life between Heaven and Earth.

Director’s Note
Life between Heaven and Earth, this way, and that way…

Director
Liu Libin is the Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Central Academy of Drama; Professor, Doctoral Supervisor, and Executive Chairman of Performance Art Committee of China Drama Art Institute, Vice Chairman of Asia Theatre Education Centre (ATEC), member of the Art Review Group of State Degree Office and member of the International Committee of Theatre Olympics. He was awarded the Innovation Award and Golden Lion Award (Direction) by the Ministry of Culture. Creation of a Full Figure was awarded Beijing Municipal Excellent Course, First Prize of Beijing Education and Teaching Achievements, and Beijing Famous Teacher Award etc. Some of the plays directed by him are Thunderstorm, Beijingers, Three Sisters, Twelfth Night, As You Like It, Servant of Two Masters, Wet Paint, Turandot, Wen Na Came down from the Tree, A Cat Wants to Become a Man etc.

The Original Author
Lu Xun (1881-1936) is a famous Chinese writer, thinker, an important participant of the May 4 th New Culture Movement, and the founder of modern Chinese literature. He was formerly known as Zhou Zhangshou, and later renamed as Zhou Shuren. He was from Shaoxing, Zhejiang province. Lu Xun is the pen name that he used for the first time in the NovelA Madman’s Diarypublished in 1918.

The Playwright
Yang Zhankun, Doctor of Drama and Film Studies, and an academic visitor of U.K., who was once an undergraduate of Department of Dramatic Literature of the Central Academy of Drama in 1997, is now an Associate Professor, and Deputy Head of the Department of Peking Opera of the Central Academy of Drama. He has made many plays, TV series and films. His production of Life between Heaven and Earth, on behalf of Chinese team, was invited to participate in the 7th Theatre Olympics 2016 in Poland.

The Group
National Theatre of China (NTC), affiliated to the Ministry of Culture, is a performing art organization with rich resources on art creativity and splendid cultural traditions on drama. The theatre is formed by a group of well-known senior artists, such as Ouyang Yuqian, Liao Chengzhi, Wu Xue, Shu Qiang, Jin Shan and Sun Weishi who helped to lay a solid foundation during each stage of the theatre’s establishment, development, inheritance and innovation. National Theatre of China has three modern theatres which are suitable for varieties of performances. In addition, NTC has centres in Beijing, casting influence across the whole country, promoting international theatre exchanges and cooperation, and presenting national and international advanced theatre to Chinese audience.

Cast & Credits

Ah Q Su Xiao Gang
Scenic Painting, Stage Design, Costume, Make-up & Lighting Deng Wen
Sound Design Zhang Yixin
Stage Manager Chen Si
Form Design Mu Jia
Subtitle Operation Yang Shuai
Sound Operation Jing Lei
Playwright Yang Zhankun
Director Liu Libin

 

Manohar Khushalani

Manohar Khushalani

Prof. Manohar Khushalani is a former Visiting Faculty at Indraprastha Institute of Information Technology, Delhi. The courses he taught were: Animation & Graphics, Non-Linear Editing for Film and Radio and Theatre Appreciation.  He has won a total of nine Excellence in Teaching awards for all the courses he has taught at IIITD Earlier he retired from Government of India as Director Environment Management, Central Water Commission and held many senior positions in the Government Based on a Belief that Culture and Environment are the two keys to global sustainability , Manohar Khushalani has launched two portals: A Portal on Environment and Water called One Vorld at url: www.onevorld.org and two Ezines on Culture called Stage Buzz at url: www.stagebuzz.in He has taught extensively in varied subjects such as Dam Safety, Instrumentation, CAD, IT, Animation, Theatre, Newspaper Editing. He has conducted Courses on Environment Management, Water Shed Development, Team Building and Personality Development. He was an Expert Member of Prasar Bharti’s Committee for Grading & Short listing Films for Telecast on all channels of Doordarshan.  He is a Radio Anchor for All India Radio and has moderated several programs for the Rajdhani Channel He is a well-known Theatre Actor/Director and Critic, has been involved in theatre since 1977. He has worked as an actor in over 50 plays with almost every leading director/Actor in the Country including Badal Sircar, Feisal Alkazi, Amal Allana, M.K. Raina, Anuradha Kapoor, Maya Rao, Manohar Singh, Prasanna, Rati Bartholomew and Sushmita Mukherji. He has been active in the social sector as a street theatre activist. As a member of Workshop Theatre, Theatre Union and Prayog, Khushalani has participated in street plays taking up major social issues such as dowry, bride burning, Sati, banned medicinal drugs and communalism. Dario Fo’s Accidental Death of an Anarchist and Can’t Pay Won’t Pay, both directed by him, received rave notices from critics and audiences alike. Other plays directed by him include Badal Sircar’s, Sagina Mahato and Boris Vian’s Empire Builders for Ruchika Theatre Group. Khushalani has also acted in a few films such as Sudhir Mishra's Hazaron Khwaishen Aisi , Shoojit Sircar’s Madras Café and Pradeep Krishan's Annie Gives Those Ones. He is an Animator & Graphics Designer and has directed a number of documentaries. He also held a number of Honorary positions and was President of North India Films Association, He was the Chairman of  Jury for UGC CEC Educational Films Competition and has been on their Preview Committee since last many years. He was on the preview committee of Door Darshan Channel 3, was a visiting Professor at National School of Drama, New Delhi, and Film & Television Institute of India, Pune, AJKMCRR, Jamia Milia Islamia and Professor in Media at FICT, Delhi  He has judged a large number of Drama Competitions and conducted a number of Theatre / Management Games Workshops with Institutions such as AIIMS, NTPC, CWPRS, NWA, Karve Nari Prakshishan Sansthan, FICT, IIT, MAMC, Gargi College, KNC, Tagore International School and Vivekananda School. He is a Theatre Critic for IIC Diary, has also been a Columnist with Midday and Pioneer Daily and wrote Column's Called Culture Cocktail and Footlights Respectively. He was also the Guest Editor for an issue on Folk Theatre of ICCR Journal Horizons. He has written for Times of Indian, Hindustan Times, Blitz, Hard News, Hindu Business Line, Theatre India & Art Times. He has designed dams and hydraulic structures for the Government. He is a programmer and has developed Engineering design software in Fortran. He is a co-author of Irrigation Practice & Design (Vol 1 to5 - 1500 pages) published by Oxford & IBH and sponsored by National Book Trust. He has been a Director, Environment and Sociology, at the National Water Academy, Khadakwasla and Director, Environment Management Directorate, Central Water Commission and Member Secretary, National Environmental Monitoring Committee for River Valley Projects. He was also Director of Instrumentation Directorate in the Dam Safety Organisation. He was Chief General Manager and Head of Water Resources at Scott Wilson and is an accredited consultant with numerous other organizations He is a Delhi Public School, BITS Pilani, IIT Delhi and FTI Pune Alumini. He was also the President of BITS Pilani Alumni Association, Pune.

You may also like...

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *