2011: Australian Premiere: Rhinoceros in Love
Creative Asia was delighted to collaborate on the 2011 Australian premiere of Rhinoceros in Love, the critically acclaimed Chinese contemporary drama by Chinese avant garde director, Meng Jinghui and playwright Liao Yimei. Rhinoceros in Love is Rhinoceros in Love toured to the Melbourne Festival, OzAsia Festival and the Brisbane Festival in 2011. This event was major part of the program for the Year of Chinese Culture in Australia, and was well received by Australian and Chinese audiences on its 3 leg tour.
“When this upbeat production first exploded onto the Beijing stage it was a lone voice in the wilderness, an experimental play bucking the tradition-bound world of Chinese theatre. Now it is a certified smash-hit – and the first shot in a Far East theatrical revolution.
Uniting a distinctive, stark visual style, a pop-song littered soundtrack and a thoroughly modern story of love and obsession, this landmark staging of Rhinoceros in Love continues to electrify Beijing audiences, playing nightly to houses packed with youthful theatregoers.
A hallucinatory tale of a man’s desperate excesses in pursuit of an unattainable love, this production is a frenetic and compelling glimpse of the new face of 21st century Chinese theatre.” -Melbourne Festival
Click here to listen to Hannah’s interview with Amanda Smith, on ABC Radio National Artworks program, about the Rhinoceros in Love Australian tour.
2010: Australian Performing Arts Delegation to China
In October 2010, The Ministry of Culture in China invited a delegation of Australian performing arts managers to participate in a cultural visit, as part of the ‘Year of Australian Culture in China’. The delegation visited Beijing, Shanghai and Chengdu, and met with key local arts and cultural organizations to discuss future collaboration and exchange opportunities. The 10 day tour also included viewing of 14 performances showcasing a variety of classical and contemporary Chinese performing art forms, as well as two industry seminars on Australia-China performing arts exchange.
The delegation was organized and led on the Australian side by Carrillo Gantner AO (President of the Melbourne International Arts Festival), and members included;
Brett Sheehy (Artistic Director, Melbourne International Arts Festival)
Lesley Alway (Arts Director, Asialink)
Ziyin Gantner (Independent film producer)
Douglas Gautier (CEO, Adelaide Festival Centre)
Noel Staunton (Artistic Director, Brisbane Festival)
Ian Scobie (Arts Projects Australia)
Greg Randall (Director of Programming, The Arts Centre Melbourne)
Hannah Skrzynski (Director, Creative Asia)
Click here to learn more.
