Orientalia

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Event Orientalia
Venue The Performance Space (1983-2007), Redfern, NSW
First Date 16 March 1995
Opening Date 16 March 1995
Last Date 2 April 1995
Dates Estimated No
Status Professional
World Premiere No
Description Reviewer's opinion: "Stimulating, thought provoking and tantalisingly inconclusive - with one question giving rise to a dozen others as differences and similarities in life are explored through parallels in art: specifically music and theatre."
From Performance Space database:
"Is cross-cultural assimilation a fiction? When the western world looks east what do we see? Kung fu? Madame Butterfly? Chinatown, the Cultural Revolution? Or is it Bob Hawke crying over the Tiananmen Square massacre?
Orientalia, a performance in Mandarin and English, exposes a 'far-east' created by westerners. Orientalia is inspired by an extraordinary meeting at an extraordinary time. Shortly after Hitler seized power in Berlin a dinner took place in Stalin's Moscow... the guests-of-honour were legendary German playwright Bertolt Brecht and Peking Opera star Mei Lanfang. They dined with Eisenstein and Stanislavsky - the brightest stars of film and theatre. An exotic hybrid that was neither east nor west emerged."
Description Source Other
Primary Genre Music Theatre
Secondary Genre Opera
Bi-lingual
Subjects Multicultural
Organisations
Contributors
Name Function Notes
Alison Morley Assistant Stage Manager
Andree Greenwell Composer
Annemaree Dalziel Costume Designer
Sally Sussman Director
Virginia Baxter Dramaturg/e
Keith Gallasch Dramaturg/e
Janine Peacock Lighting Designer
Chen Baoping Musician
David Hewitt Musician
Andrea Aloise Performer
Xu Fengshan Performer
Nigel Kellaway Performer
Katia Molino Performer
Zhang Zhijun Performer
Janine Peacock Production Manager
Sally Sussman Scenario
Gavin Barbey Set Designer
Resources
Further Information A synthesis of East and West in performance.
Event Status Completed
Data Source
Source Description
Programme John McCallum Collection, UNSW
Performance Space Database Programme and Flyer
Australian & New Zealand Theatre Record March 1995
Data Set AusStage
Event Identifier 32197