Theatre

“Two Kunqu actors, one on drum, one on gong, an empty stage – and that created all the sadness and melancholy of an era going towards the end…This is an alternative architecture drama.” — Liu Wai Tong (Hong Kong Writer)

“Kunqu’s professional demands merged with the beauty of Zuni’s stage art. It can be as perfect as that!” — Opera Preview

A Tale of the Forbidden City is an original Kunqu performance commissioned by Zuni in 2009 and was invited to “The 5th Chinese Kunqu Opera Art Festival” in Suzhou three years later. In 2017, the show returns to the stage for the fifth time.

Chongzhen Emperor, the last emperor of the Ming Dynasty, meets the spirit of Kuai Xiang, the architect who designed the Forbidden City Palace more than 200 years ago. They sang as they strolled along the north-south central axis upon which the Forbidden City was built. They passed through the Meridian Gate, headed north and got out of the Forbidden City. The emperor climbed up Meishan (Coal Hill) and came to the last part of his life’s journey. That was also the end of the Ming Dynasty which lasted 300 years. Under the guide of the architect, Chongzhen reviewed the intention of building the world’s largest wooden-structure palace city. He sighed upon the fleeting changes between the material palace and the spiritual concept of home and country. The emperor eventually completed the last rites of his departure from home, from country, from his ancestors and gave offering to and bade farewell to the palace.