Works

作品

Inspired by the first seven chapters of Wu Cheng’en’s classic novel Journey to the West, Wukong revisits the adventures of Sun Wukong before he became the legendary Monkey King. From his birth from a stone and his discovery of the Water Curtain Cave, to learning supernatural skills, acquiring his magical staff, rewriting the records of life and death, and finally causing havoc in Heaven, the work follows Wukong as he repeatedly challenges both himself and authority. What is he truly searching for? And what drives him to keep pushing beyond every boundary placed before him? The stage becomes Wukong’s playground on Flower Fruit Mountain, where performers run, leap, climb and play. Aerial silks, Cyr wheel, hoops, tumbling and acrobatics transform the classical tale into the physical language of contemporary circus. Suspended silks become both the cascading Water Curtain and a stream of Wukong’s restless desires, while juggling objects flying across the stage turn into weapons, obstacles and challenges along his journey. Rather than simply retelling Journey to the West, the work uses circus to approach the classic from a contemporary perspective. Through bodies, skills and objects, the production reimagines one of Chinese literature’s most iconic rebels and asks a final question: if Sun Wukong were alive today, what would he do?