National Ballet of China - Zhang Υimou

Raise the Red Lantern

Investing in the talent of Zhang Yimou, the National Ballet of China has commissioned the famous director to transfer his award-winning film, Raise the Red Lantern (1991), to the stage. This most demanding of undertakings required first and foremost a dramaturgy which would make the story easy to grasp for audiences, and which incorporated dance and exploited the unique possibilities of that art form to the full. A combination of Chinese opera and classical ballet, the story is set in the early twenties and centres on a young woman who falls in love with an actor from the opera despite being conjugally bound to a powerful lord. The envy of others ensures a tragic finale for the secret lovers. An intense lyricism and a phantasmagoria “à la chinoise” enhanced by the music make for a spectacle which incorporates both Western dance and the incredible riches of the Chinese tradition.