November 04, 2011 Friday evening’s performance of “The Guitar Man” was held in a fully packed venue. At the New Space at Shanghai Theatre Academy the audience were lining up along the walls to experience Ma Da’s interpretation of Jon Fosse’s only monolog “The Guitar Man” in Chinese.
Actor, director and composer
The only part in the monolog was held by Ma Da himself, a young and talented Chinese actor and a former student of the Shanghai Theatre Academy, currently working at the Shanghai Opera House. Ma also served as the director and the composer of the play, playing the guitar and singing several of his own songs. As a simple street musician living through an existential crisis, Ma captured the audience with his interpretation of Fosse’s play. While taking a break from the trivialities of daily life, our guitar man assesses his life situation and takes the audience on his journey of making a life changing decision.
Fosse in Chinese
“The Guitar Man”, translated by Lulu Zou is the second of Fosse’s play to be produced in Chinese. Last year, Shanghai Theatre Academy‘s production of “Someone is Going to Come” by Fosse also premiered in Shanghai. Friday’s performance was also attended by the Norwegian Ambassador, Svein O. Sæther, who had come all the way from Beijing for the occasion.
The production of “The Guitar Man” is a part of “The Jon Fosse project in China 2011” presented by Ibsen International and TTS group Norway in cooperation with Shanghai Theatre Academy.
“The Jon Fosse project in China” is part of “Ibsen in China”- a long term project run by Ibsen international in cooperation with several other Chinese and Norwegian partners. This project develops the knowledge and awareness of Jon Fosse’s play, the cooperation between Chinese and Norwegian artists, scholars and other culture exchange activities.