{"id":24770,"date":"2024-04-20T20:26:11","date_gmt":"2024-04-21T00:26:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/?p=24770"},"modified":"2024-04-20T20:36:20","modified_gmt":"2024-04-21T00:36:20","slug":"book-of-mountains-and-seas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/2024\/04\/20\/book-of-mountains-and-seas\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Book Of Mountains And Seas\u2019 Reenvisions Chinese Creation Myths Via Puppetry"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\u201cShanhai jing\u201d\u2014which gives the title to the choral singing and puppetry performance \u201cBook of Mountains and Seas\u201d<\/a> at ArtEmerson\u2019s Emerson Paramount Center in Boston from April 19 to 21, 2024\u2014is a compendium of Chinese creation myths that was first transcribed in the 4th century B.C.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt was a book that existed for 2,500 years and we don\u2019t know who wrote it,\u201d Huang Ruo, the show\u2019s Chinese-raised, American-based composer and librettist, explained during a discussion after last night\u2019s performance. \u201cIt compiles the geographies of China. Also it collects mythology, stories, folktales of different places. It\u2019s also associated with animals and legends and how the earth was created and why we have one sun left.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the show, which premiered in Denmark in fall 2021, Huang\u2019s music is married with director and production designer Basil Twist\u2019s puppetry and live singing by the chorus Ars Nova Copenhagen, all of it produced by Beth Morrison Projects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\u201cBook
\u201cBook of Mountains and Seas.” (Teddy Wolff photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The stage is dark for the first scene: \u201cThe Legend of Pan Gu.\u201d \u201cFormed in chaos, Pan Gu is the origin\u201d read words projected on a giant dark circle filling the back wall of the stage. \u201cPan Gu grows taller and taller, between yin and yang, separating heaven and earth.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 12 singers slowly appear on the stage as disembodied heads, lit by iPads hidden in the folders they carry, their bodies disappearing in the darkness in their velvety dark robes. The chorus sings a pulsing drone, inspired by Chinese folk music, and recalling medieval European polyphony as well as Philip Glass\u2019s minimalist choral compositions. They\u2019re accompanied by two percussionists. \u201cI wanted to go to the most primitive instrument of mankind. It is voice and percussion,\u201d Huang said. \u201c\u2026To me that is the universal sound.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The chorus moves to the front, then divides into groups at the sides, revealing a giant face seemingly assembled from thick roots or driftwood with green glowing eyes. \u201cIn death he transformed,\u201d read words projected on the back of the stage. \u201cHis breath becomes the winds, his blood the rivers, his veins the mountains and canyons, his eyes the sun and the moon. Lastly the humans are created.\u201d (The words can be difficult to read, projected too briefly and frequently blocked by props.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe texts are from the book, but they are very short. I also added new texts to it,\u201d Huang said. So addition to singing in Chinese, the vocals include language the composer invented, \u201cwhat I called a celestial language. \u2026 A lot of them are not existing words.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\u201cBook
\u201cBook of Mountains and Seas.” (Teddy Wolff photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In a second scene, \u201cThe Spirit Bird,\u201d a large white sheet is pulled across the stage and rippled like water. Over the sheet, a puppeteer flies a white flag-kite with a pink trailing edge from a long pole\u2014an abstracted bird. It\u2019s initially a striking tableau\u2014but with Twist\u2019s minimalist abstracting puppetry, the performance becomes a dance, and unfortunately Twist\u2019s vocabulary of moves is very limited, which makes the show drag. The puppeteer wags the kite-flag above the rippling sea-sheet with the same simplistic movement over and over and over monotonously. \u201cNu Wa drowned at sea and was transformed into the bird,\u201d projected words explain. \u201cFor the rest of time she fills the sea with twigs and pebbles endlessly.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\u201cBook
\u201cBook of Mountains and Seas.” (Teddy Wolff photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Projected words announce the third scene: \u201cThe Legend of 10 Suns\u201d: \u201cTen suns ride around the Earth on sun birds.\u201d One by one 10 round lanterns, glowing red and held up on tall sticks, are carried in by puppeteers, who walk in slow circles at center stage as the chorus stands at the sides. \u201cOne day, the 10 suns decide to all ride together,\u201d projected words explain. \u201cThe heat causes grasses and trees to burn, lakes and rivers to dry up, animals and humans to die.\u201d The movement vocabulary remains tediously limited, the lanterns just circling or waving left and right. The puppeteers gather the lanterns in a row at the front of the stage and lean them over the audience ominously. A performer picks up one of the driftwood pieces, which have been arranged around the edges of the stage, as if it is a bow and pantomimes shooting the lanterns, which turn from yellow to blue. \u201cNine suns are shot down by \u2026 the God of Archery.\u201d The lanterns circle and circle, until they finally, one by one, exit at the back. \u201cOne sun is spared to light the Earth creating day and night.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\u201cBook
\u201cBook of Mountains and Seas.” (Teddy Wolff photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In the final scene, \u201cKua Fu Chasing the Sun,\u201d the driftwood has been arranged into the shape of a giant monstrous man, who sits up, operated bunraku-style by five and then six puppeteers. The figure runs in place, and runs in place, and runs in place, chasing a red lantern that is carried around the edge of the stage. He falls to his knees to drink white sheet rivers \u201cto quench his thirst,\u201d then runs, then drinks another stream. Then an arm \u201cflies\u201d off toward the sun, then a leg, and another leg, and so on, until all that is left of him is three driftwood logs that puppeteers circle at the center of the stage. \u201cWith his death forests of peach blossom trees sprout and grow,\u201d projected words read. The chorus sings in a cluster at the center of the stage as lights come up and pink petals drift down from the ceiling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBefore he reached the big lake, he actually died from thirst,\u201d Huang said. \u201cIn Chinese culture, a peach blossom forest is paradise.\u201d So what are the ancients saying with this tale? \u201cThey\u2019re telling us something about how paradise will come about maybe after we are all gone.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

If this is the kind of coverage of arts, cultures and activisms you appreciate, please support Wonderland by contributing to Wonderland on Patreon<\/a>. And sign up for our free, occasional newsletter<\/a> so that you don’t miss any of our reporting. (All content \u00a9Greg Cook 2024 or the respective creato<\/em>rs.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\u201cBook
\u201cBook of Mountains and Seas.” (Teddy Wolff photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\u201cBook
\u201cBook of Mountains and Seas.” (Teddy Wolff photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\u201cBook
\u201cBook of Mountains and Seas.” (Teddy Wolff photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\u201cBook
\u201cBook of Mountains and Seas.” (Teddy Wolff photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cShanhai jing\u201d\u2014which gives the title to the choral singing and puppetry performance \u201cBook of Mountains and Seas\u201d at ArtEmerson\u2019s Emerson Paramount Center in Boston from April 19 to 21, 2024\u2014is a compendium of Chinese creation myths that was first transcribed in the 4th century B.C. \u201cIt was a book that existed for 2,500 years and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":24774,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[109,110],"tags":[473,1246],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24770"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24770"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24770\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24785,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24770\/revisions\/24785"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24774"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24770"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24770"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24770"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}