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The 27th Macao Arts Festival (MAF), organised by the Cultural Affairs Bureau (IC, from the Portuguese acronym), will be held during the month of May. This edition of the MAF is themed “Time” and has “Reshape your Imagination Experience the Spirit of the Times” as slogan, offering a variety of exceptional shows besides its Outreach Programme. This year marks the 400th anniversary of the death of the western world literary giant William Shakespeare and of Ming Dinasty’s famed Chinese opera playwright Tang Xianzu, and therefore the MAF offer special programmes in honour of these two great writers. Recently, IC divulged a preview of the six MAF’s highlights on its webpage, including the opening show, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Shakespeare’s romantic comedy staged by the Shakespeare Theatre Company from USA, featuring stunning and delicate sceneries and wardrobe, and directed by internationally renowned Broadway director Ethan McSweeney; the monologue Krapp’s Last Tape, directed and performed by internationally acclaimed theatre and opera director Robert Wilson, is a simplified adaptation of Samuel Beckett’s famed work, and is considered a perfect match between the contemporary theatre master and playwright; the Yue opera Lu You and Tang Wan presenting the elegant, poetic, refined and exquisite style of Southern China’s opera and aesthetic spirit, performed by a top female Yue opera troupe in China, Zhejiang Xiaobaihua Yue Opera Troupe; the dance piece Obsession by Japanese dance masters Saburo Teshigawara and Rihoko Sato, which focuses on how a conscious person is torn by an inner obsession through a combination of music, movement, fine arts and images, creating a poetic space characterised by an intense sense of artistic composition and depth; Jérôme Bel and Swiss Theater HORA’s play Disabled Theater performed by actors with cognitive impairments, reveals that people with cognitive impairments are capable to question the status of society and point out the living style of different people; and Tang Xianzu’s romantic tragedy The Legend of the Purple Hairpin, adapted by playwright Tang Ti-Sheng, is performed by renowned Macao Cantonese opera artist Chu Chan Wa and by local Cantonese opera artists, offering the audience a unique opportunity to explore this masterpiece in depth. For more information, please visit the MAF’s webpage at www.icm.gov.mo/fam, follow the MAF’s page on Facebook or subscribe to IC’s WeChat account.
