Hong Kong stage queen Perry Chiu will return to Shenzhen this weekend with her beloved Cantonese play “The Golden Cangue,” adapted from legendary Shanghai writer Eileen Chang’s 1950 novella of the same name.
Perry Chiu (L) in a scene from “The Golden Cangue.” File photos
Directed by Hong Kong award-winning movie director Ann Hui and written by prolific mainland writer Wang Anyi, the play centers on a woman who marries for money but finds herself wedded to the bedridden son of a wealthy family in the early 1900s. Lonely, she becomes attracted to her husband’s handsome brother. Caught in the frustration of her situation, she then embarks on a path of decadent self-destruction with an opium addiction and the obsessive ruination of her children. The “cangue” of the title is a metaphorical allusion to the inescapable situation in which the character finds herself.
A scene from “The Golden Cangue.”
Chiu staged the drama in Shenzhen in 2009 and 2017. “The play has been staged 72 times since 2009. It is God’s gift to me because the director, the writer and the cast are all brilliant. During the past years, audiences continue to inspire me. Their passion for Eileen Chang is thrilling. Many wrote their reviews of the novella and the play on my social media, which has helped me improve my comprehension of the character,” said Chiu in an interview in 2017.
Perry Chiu (L) in a scene from “The Golden Cangue.” File photos
A fan of Chang, Chiu has her own drama company Perry Chiu Experimental Theater. Musical and literary classics are far from the only genre that the versatile stage queen has excelled in. She is noted for starring in plays dealing with sex and gender and having strong female leads. Last year, she staged Cantonese drama “The Song of Everlasting Sorrow,” also written by Wang, in Shenzhen.
Time: 8 p.m., June 7-8
Tickets: 499-699 yuan
Venue: Nanshan Cultural and Sports Center, 2106 Nanshan Boulevard, Nanshan District (南山区南山大道2106号南山文体中心)
Metro: Line 1 to Taoyuan Station (桃园站), Exit B
