▌中文  

 

 

        When talking about Dream of the Red Chamber in Chinese Opera, most people associate it with the opera, The Two Yius in the Red Chamber, a famous opera of the Xun (Huei-Sheng) School. As implied in the title, the opera focuses on the tragic fate of the two beautiful sisters, Yiu Er-Jie and Yiu San-Jie, who are the younger sisters of the wife of Jia Zhen. When performing on stage, Xun Huei-Sheng confronted the confinement of the roles in Chinese Opera by playing two roles, first Yiu San-Jie, as a huadan (lively female role), then Yiu Er-Jie, as a gueimendan (introverted young girl). Taking the second half of The Two Yius in the Red Chamber in which Wang Xi-Feng confronts Yiu Er-Jie, Chen Xi-ting revised it to Wang Xi-Feng Wreaking Havoc at the Ning Mansion by weakening the confrontation of Chiu-Tung and Yiu Er-Jie in the original opera and putting the focus on a single character, Wang Xi-Feng.

        Wang Xi-Feng is a complex character. Born and raised in a wealthy family, she now dominates the Rung Mansion with her forceful personality, so she has extraordinarily imposing manners compared to other ladies of rich families. But she is extroverted, straightforward, but not well educated, so at times she can appear unrefined or whimsical. Therefore, it is a great challenge for any actor to interpret such a character. Based on her training as a qingyi of the Mei School, Wei Hai-Min presents a kind of sumptuousness and dominance of Wang Xi-Feng through her singing. Moreover, she mixes the acting style of the Xun School to show the shrewd and calculating character of Wang Xi-Feng. Her speech is delivered in crispy standard mandarin, and her movement is refined to the point that every gesture represents a scene of the opera. Through her performance, the character Wang Xi-Feng takes on a unique existence on stage and is full of individual charm.