The Prince of Lanling grows new plots from a legend featuring Lanling in the Northern Qi Dynasty in ancient China. Lanling who witnessed his father killed pretends to be a weak womanish prince concealing his true self. His mother, the Queen gives him a mask carved with mythical creatures bequeathed by his father, the former King. After taking the mask, Lanling who gains miraculous power sweeps all the enemies invincibly, meanwhile he goes into an extreme of cruelty and brutality. In the end, the Queen sacrifices her life with her maternal love to help her son return back to his true self.
The play adopts symbolic technique to tell an allegory about “soul and mask”, which manifests the contemplation on tragic fate, intending to invoke thinking and discussion about human nature as well as true self from audience.
The Prince of Lanling not only contains traditional Chinese elements such as Nuo mask, Nuo Show, but also includes modern art creativity.
Director: Wang Xiaoying — famous Chinese director, the Executive vice-President and Artistic Director of National Theatre of China, and also the Vice-Chairman of the China Theatre Association. Wang holds a doctoral degree in Directing. Dr Wang has won many national awards, among them “Excellent Worker in Drama” and “Outstanding Director of the New Century”.
The National Theatre of China is represented by: Bai Xuefeng, She Nannan, Wang Yan, Ma Shanshan, Zhang Haoruo, Zhamg Hao, Xia Jun, Li Ren, Yu Fengxia, Zou Yizheng, Tian Zheng, Chen Cheng, Li Nan, Zhang Hongliang, Tian Ge, Xia Meng, Wang Youya, Wang Guangbin, Wang Dawei, Liu Ziyu, Li Bei, He Hongyu, Wang Jufeng, Wang Zhiqiang, Zhao Lanting, Han Changzhi, Zhang Xuefei, Li Shaopeng, Liu Hejia, Lu Suhe, Zhang Xinhe, Shen Miao, Gan Yuting, Wen Congcong, Yan Chunzi, Liu Xi.
