親愛的人生 (Dear Life), Photo: Yin-chieh-Chung 
親愛的人生 (Dear Life), Photo: Yin-chieh-Chung 
親愛的人生 (Dear Life), Photo: Yin-chieh-Chung 
親愛的人生 (Dear Life), Photo: Yin-chieh-Chung 
親愛的人生 (Dear Life), Photo: Yin-chieh-Chung 
親愛的人生 (Dear Life), Photo: Yin-chieh-Chung 
親愛的人生 (Dear Life), Photo: Yin-chieh-Chung 
親愛的人生 (Dear Life), Photo: Yin-chieh-Chung 
親愛的人生 (Dear Life), Photo: Yin-chieh-Chung 
親愛的人生 (Dear Life), Photo: Yin-chieh-Chung 
親愛的人生 (Dear Life), Photo: Yin-chieh-Chung 
親愛的人生 (Dear Life), Photo: Yin-chieh-Chung 
親愛的人生 (Dear Life), Photo: Yin-chieh-Chung 
親愛的人生 (Dear Life), Photo: Yin-chieh-Chung 
親愛的人生 (Dear Life), Photo: Yin-chieh-Chung 
 

親愛的人生 (Dear Life)

(Taipei)
Shakespeare’s Wild Sisters Group
by Wang Chia-ming
Director: Wang Chia-ming
Stage A

Stage A

04/30/2023, 20.00–22.15

For the play »親愛的人生« (»Dear Life«), director Wang Chia-ming has adapted short stories from the book of the same name by Canadian Nobel Prize-winning author Alice Munro and moved them to contemporary Taipei. In the book, Munro writes about characters at a turning point in life. In simple, everyday settings, the female protagonists of her stories experience great dramas in the intermediate space between what is explicitly said and what remains unspoken; they are faced with loss, grief, pain, longing and love. In his production, Wang Chia-ming transposes these stories and their heroines to the reality of Taiwan. Munro’s characters now live in different boroughs of present-day Taipei and, as neighbours who don’t know each other, encounter each other in four separate but interwoven stories. »When I listen to people talking about my work, I always notice that I seem to be very interested in questions of identity. That may be due to the fact that people from highly diverse social backgrounds and contexts live together on this island,« says Wang Chia-ming about his theatre and his home island of Taiwan. »What always interests me in theatre is perception: How is one and the same reality seen from different perspectives?« In »親愛的 人生« (»Dear Life«), he uses Munro’s texts to reveal a personal, polyphonic and affectionate portrait of the various people and the major city of Taipei.

The Shakespeare’s Wild Sisters Group was founded in Taiwan in the summer of 1995. In changing constellations, the theatre group has since explored forms of collective authorship: text, direction, stage and costume design are combined under the influence of different art forms to create constantly new modes of theatrical expression. At the centre of their plays are texts that have been newly written or, as in the case of Munro’s short stories, substantially adapted for the stage. Wang Chia- ming is one of the founding members of the group and merges traditional Eastern influences with Western art and pop culture in his productions. His work has twice received the Taishin Arts Award. Productions by the Shakespeare’s Wild Sisters Group have made guest appearances in Hong Kong, Macau, Beijing, Shanghai, Busan, Tokyo, Singapore, Kobe, Paris and New York. This is the first time they can be seen in Germany with one of their larger-scale productions.

With: Fa, Wang Chuan, An Yuan-liang, Yu Pei-zhen, Huang Chiao-wei, Li Mingchen, Gwen Yao, Jimmy Chang, Chen Wu-kang, Huang Pei-shu, Sunny Yang, Lai Wen-chun, Musicians: Yu Rho-mei, Kao Chen-yin, Wu Kang-chiu
Set Design: Huang I-ju
Set Design Assistant: Chen Liang-ju
Costume Design: Chin Pin-pin
Wardrobe: Lin, Yu-ling
Music: Blaire Ko, Lin Fang-yi
Lighting Design: Wang Tien-hung
Technical Direction: Lee Po-han
Stage Manager: Lin Tai-jung
Production: Shakespeare’s Wild Sisters Group
Production Management: Yukio Nitta
Executive Producer: Lu Lin

Duration: ca. 135 minutes

Commissioned by National Performing Arts Center — National Theater & Concert Hall, Taiwan, R.O.C.

Supported by Ministry of Culture, Taiwan, Department of Cultural Affairs, Taipei City Government.