Unraveling Don Quixote in China

By Guo Ying

Actors rehearsing a scene from Don Quixote

China's most famous avant-garde drama director, Meng Jinghui, is about to enter new territory, presenting an interpretation of Miguel de Cervantes' Don Quixote for the first time in China. While it might be hard to visual the pairing of the modern artist with a great Spanish writer who lived 400 years ago, Meng has announced that he is stepping out of his comfort zone to present the work close to its true form.

Meng's avant-garde productions usually bear strong experimental elements. He either turns classic works upside down or tears the classics into pieces. Light-hearted parody and loose storylines are quite common in his work.

When the news hit that he was to direct Don Quixote, most commentators predicted that he would once again deconstruct this Western classic “Meng-style.” However, Meng has shocked theater critics by announcing a classic approach to the work.

“To be honest, I had not read the whole novel before rehearsals. Then I spent one week reading it without distractions in a remote village. I was totally overwhelmed. It is a great literary work and all I have to do is to follow the original story faithfully. I am only a learner in the face of this classic,” Meng said.

With the full title, The Ingenious Hidalgo Don Quixote of La Mancha and originally written in two volumes 10 years apart, the story follows the plight of a man who becomes obsessed with books of chivalry and believes them to be true. He sets off on various quests and his actions and illusions are interpreted by most who he meets as a descent into madness. Tricked and deceived by his mind, friends and strangers, Don Quixote has been labeled as the most influential literary work to emerge from Spain's Golden Age.

Actor Guo Tao will play Don Quixote in Meng's drama and has spent countless hours preparing for the role, including losing weight. Don Quixote was depicted as a thin man in the novel so Guo wanted to be as accurate in his portrayal as possible. Through eating simple foods and vegetables every day, Guo lost 10 kilograms for the role. He also cut his hair to fit the character and started to grow a beard.

Guo said that he admires Don Quixote's passionate quest to challenge the disparity and unfairness in life. “I want to give praise to his innocence and idealism,” he explained.

Director Meng Jinghui.

“In my opinion the relationship between Don Quixote and his squire Sancho is also very subtle. The former is a symbol of idealism while the latter is symbolic of practicality. I think it shows the dual character of one person and the conflict between ideas and reality. The philosophical meaning still has its relevance today,” Guo added.

During the stage-play, the character of Don Quixote has several long monologues, which has posed a great challenge for Guo.

“Obviously it is not enough to practice these monologues in the rehearsal room so it is quite common for me to practice them at home. One day after I practiced the monologues again and again in the evening, I could hardly go to sleep as I could not get myself out of Don Quixote's complex mood,” Guo explained.

Meng's drama will last for over three-and-a-half hours, with Meng considering the length quite necessary.

“The novel is full of highlights and I think it would be disrespectful if I squeezed such a great novel into a two-hour drama. I want to present its charm with more theater language,” he explained.

Meng positions the drama as a “comedy with Latin flavor.” Although the play will be delivered in Chinese, he hopes to present a genuine Spanish theme. He also hopes to establish a time channel and offer audiences a better understanding of Don Quixote's crazy inner world.

Prior to rehearsals, Meng embarked on a two-week tour to Spain with his production team, tracing the places that Don Quixote visited in the novel as well as experiencing local life in Spain.

Meng said that the team took in a great deal of culture and inspiration from the trip, from both depictions of Don Quixote and residents' interpretations of the folk legend.

The actors and production team have also attended seminars by professor Dong Yansheng from Beijing Foreign Studies University, who translated Don Quixote from Spanish into Chinese. Guo said that they had received a lot of constructive advice from Dong and were able to construct a more balanced account of the paradoxical character.

Performed by the National Theater Company of China, Don Quixote is supported by the Spanish Embassy in China and the Instituto Cervantes in Beijing. It will run from September 2 to 6 at the National Center for the Performing Arts in Beijing and then play at Shenzhen Grand Theater on September 10-13.
 

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