China
The Sleepy-less Ensemble
Adapted from Anton Chekhov
Written by Hu Xuanyi
Directed by He Qi
2024
10.24, 20:30
10.25, 20:30
10.26, 20:30
Sun Moon Plaza
Duration: 115 minutes (without intermission)
Performed in Chinese, with English subtitles
Reviews
Very good play. The point is that they did it, the curtain rose to reveal the city behind them—that is, those struggles and hopes in the play, and all of a sudden they were no longer words, specific people, specific lives, and not only do we have to keep rehearsing Chekhov, but we also give the reason for that, which is very good—that is, it's still happening.
Xie Xie, Damai
It's the first time I've seen an all-girl cast.
Echoing: the Seagull is a show that five small-town friends once rehearsed together. The first half is about five teenage girls who have grown up and left the town where they grew up, and then years later meet again for a funeral in the auditorium where they first rehearsed. The second half is a wedding, which seems precious and sad amidst the Tencent conference connection, if any signal, and the hyped-up phone calls from clients. "Life is like a garbage can, you never know what's in it, but it'll always ... buckle over your head."
If it were you, would you choose to be defeated by reality or stick to your ideals?
I can’t eat anymore!, RED
The production was excellent, echoing the drama I had imagined , from the opening build-up to the genuine voice at its core. The lived-in lines are very appropriate, which is part of the excellence; when watching this type of work, I'm always concerned that the form will get in the way of the power that's supposed to be there, but here I could detect some sort of balance, or rather an effort at balance.
CheeseFac, RED
The Feminist Work I Want to See
At first, I didn't have high expectations. Because retellings of classics are hard to tell, and this is especially true of a text like The Seagull, with its many characters, its tight, sprawling story, and the fact that it deals with artistic performance and artistry, I was afraid that she'd fall into the rut of the disease-free , and I was really desperate to hear what the girls would say. Because even if they don't say it loudly enough, even if they don't say it brilliantly enough, I want to hear what the girls want to say, starting with myself. But this play, which I would describe as a "She," was a complete surprise to me. In fact, if you ask me what kind of feminist theatre I'd like to see... it's her.
TheatrePro
Echoing: the Seagull is based on Chekhov's The Seagull, a story about five girls graduating from a county high school on a summer day a few years after graduation. It's definitely a pretty painstakingly laborious production, and the sincerity of it does echo very beautifully between the actors, and between the actors and the audience.
Ferrous Phosphide, RED
About Echoing: the Seagull
Echoing: the Seagull is a rewrite by the Sleepy-less Ensemble based on Chekhov's The Seagull. They brought the story to China in 2023 and rewrote it around five young girls around the age of 25, showcasing the confusion and anxiety that pervades contemporary Chinese society, as well as the fear of abstract ideals that people still have when faced with reality.
The play still discusses the eternal question: what is the essence of life? And this "life" is based on contemporary China.
Credits
Adapted from Anton Pavlovich Chekhov
Playwright: Hu Xuanyi
Director: He Qi
Cast: He Qi, Xu Jie, Hou Ying, Wang Yimeng, Zhang Chengzi
Set Designer: Hu Yanjun
Set Design Assistants: Wang Wei, Li Haiyi
Lighting Designer: Feng Ling
Composer/Live Musician: Huang Kai
Mutimedia Designer: Yue Yuan
Graphic Designer & Mutimedia executive: Xuan Yi
Producer: Chen Yingzhe
Stage Managers: Cao Yiran,Tang yan
About He Qi
He Qi, a member of the Sleepy-less Ensemble, works primarily as a director. After graduating from Fudan University with a degree in Chinese, she studied playwriting at National Taiwan University, trained by Chi Wei-Jan and Tong Wei-ger. Her works have participated in many theater festivals in China.
About The Sleepy-less Ensemble
Reality is complex and multi-dimensional. Creation is the interpretation of reality. Sleepy-less Theater is a land for creation out of nothing, a playground for storing the present and raging against reality, a public institution, and a kind of resistance.
Our works to date have included Deduction of Natural Death (2018), The Cat (2021), Me and My Private XinHua Dictionary (2022), Echoing: the Seagull (2023), Naoko (2023), The Affairs (2024), Mirror (2024).