Kunqu theater troupe debuts new production in Beijing

A new Kunqu Opera production directed by Huo Xin, entitled Epiphyllum, premiered at Beijing's Long Fu Theater on May 30.

Associated with the Northern Kunqu Opera Theater - a 60-year-old theater based in Beijing - the opera is inspired by the popular TV series, Eternal Love, which is centered on the romance between the fox princess and the dragon prince and stars actress Yang Mi and actor Mark Chao.

Huo wrote the script for Epiphyllum in a bid to attract a younger audience to Kunqu Opera, one of the oldest traditional forms of Chinese opera with about 600 years of history.

Ahead of the premiere, Huo and his young cast members, including Zhang Yuanyuan and Zhu Bingzhen, took the show on a preview tour in April, where it played at Beijing's Capital Normal University and Renmin University.

"We are the youngest production team of the Northern Kunqu Opera Theater, and we want to bridge the gap between the performing style of Kunqu Opera and the tastes of modern theater audiences," says Huo.

Huo, whose father is a veteran Peking Opera actor, started learning Peking Opera in Beijing aged 12. At 22, he began to study Kunqu Opera at the training school of the Northern Kunqu Opera Theater. In 2017, he obtained his master's degree in directing from the National Academy of Chinese Theatre Arts.