About the Performance
In 1949, the Nationalist government moved to Taiwan in defeat. Within a few years, hundreds of temporary “Dependent Villages” were built all over the island to house the hundreds of thousands of military dependents who had come from China. Construction was cheap, even telephone poles had numbers on them, the plan being to ship them back to the China once the mainland was recovered. Everything was temporary, each family had roughly 30 square meters of space. All thought they would be going home soon.
But year after year passed, and they stayed on, raising their families within these “bamboo fences,” as these villages were come to be known. Inside the village gates, one would think one was in a miniature China. Dialects from north, south, east and west rang through the air; scents of cooking from Szechuan hot noodles to Shandong dumplings were everywhere. Outside the gates was the native Taiwanese population. Soon the complex population within the gates began to assimilate with the people outside, and those who once dreamt of going home discovered that this was their home.
The Village is based partially on childhood stories of Taiwan’s most prominent television producer, Wang Weizhong, and is written and directed by Stan Lai, the most celebrated playwright-director of his generation. Since its premiere in 2008, the play has electrified audiences throughout the Chinese speaking world, becoming one of the milestone productions of recent years.
The Village is a theatrical record of a special piece of history. It is an epic and radiant celebration of life in all its tragic and comic splendor.
Ticket Benefits
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