Listings

Date: March 19-20 - 8 pm

Venue: Guangzhou Opera House

Price: 180-780 yuan

War Horse is a play based on the book of the same name by children's writer Michael Morpurgo, adapted for stage by Nick Stafford. Originally Morpurgo thought "they must be mad" to try to make a play from his best-selling 1982 novel; nonetheless, the play was a success. The play's West End and Broadway productions are directed by Marianne Elliott and Tom Morris; it features life-size horse puppets by the Handspring Puppet Company of South Africa, with "horse choreography" by Toby Sedgwick. The Guardian's Michael Billington wrote in his review: Elliott and Morris recreate the kaleidoscopic horror of war through bold imagery, including the remorseless advance of a manually operated tank, and through the line-drawings of Rae Smith projected on to a suspended screen. Admittedly the performers are somewhat eclipsed by the action ... The joy of the evening, however, lies in the skilled recreation of equine life and in its unshaken belief that mankind is ennobled by its love of the horse. The Wall Street Journal's Terry Teachout praised the puppetry, but gave mixed reactions to the play: "The fundamental flaw of 'War Horse' is that Nick Stafford, who wrote the script 'in association' (that's how the credit reads) with South Africa's Handspring Puppet Company, has taken a book that was written for children and tried to give it the expressive weight of a play for adults. Not surprisingly, Mr. Morpurgo's plot can't stand the strain. Dramatic situations that work perfectly well in the context of the book play like Hollywood clich��s onstage. In the first act, the craftsmanship is so exquisite that this doesn't matter-much - but things go downhill fast after intermission. The really big problem is the last scene, about which, once again, the drama critics' code commands silence.

Contact: 400-610-3721

Time For Fun by Hand Made Theater

Date: March 25-27 - 7 pm

Venue: Qinglan Theater, Beijing

Price: 150-300 yuan

Saint-Petersburg Hands Plastic Theater was created in 2007, all actors graduated from the State Theatrical Academy's puppetry faculty. The main point around which the company was formed was a special ability, even a talent for seeing something unique in ordinary things. Many different arm-hand development exercises helped make it possible for the actors to speak about everything using only their hands. Eventually, it became a genre. Hand Made took part in big shows held in The State Kremlin Palace (Moscow). Hand Made represented Russia at Cannes Russian Seasons in 2010. During this festival Hand Made received an official invitation to open The Carnival of Venice in Italy. In August 2012 "Hand Made" theater had UK debut and took part in The Edinburgh Festival Fringe, in September. In 2012 theater won the main award of the Poppenspelfestival in Meppel, Netherlands.

Contact: 400-610-3721