Chinese opera meets Oscar Wilde in intercultural production

LONDON — In a London rehearsal hall on Sept 14, Yu Ji, a character from Peking Opera, and Salome, from the Oscar Wilde play of the same name, came together in an original musical blending Chinese and Western theatrical traditions.

Chinese musical theater performer Aimee Yue wrote and directed The Silk Road (Kinda), a musical in which she plays Yu Ji opposite British actress Megan Winstanley's Salome. The 55-minute production was staged at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in August after earlier performances in London.

Yu Ji, also known as Consort Yu, was a companion of Xiang Yu, a prominent military leader during the final years of the Qin Dynasty (221-206 BC). Their final parting later became the basis of Farewell My Concubine, one of the best-known stories in Chinese opera. Salome, meanwhile, is closely associated in Western theater with Wilde's play and the "dance of the seven veils".

Their different theatrical worlds are clear from the moment they appear. Yue's Yu Ji carries a Chinese folding fan and moves with gestures drawn from Peking Opera, while Winstanley's Salome holds a Victorian-style lace fan and speaks and sings largely in the style of Western musical theater. Masks, long silk, pop songs, and Peking Opera percussion also run throughout the performance.

The story develops through the contrast between the two characters. Salome is outspoken and impulsive, while Yu Ji is quieter, restrained and strongly attached to duty. Their early encounters are marked by misunderstandings over language, behavior and their different cultural and theatrical traditions.

"They do not have to discover that they are the same," Yue says. Instead, their friendship develops as they learn to understand their differences. At one point, the two exchange their fans, each taking up an object associated with the other's theatrical world.

Yue's performance enriches the familiar Chinese character. Historical records leave relatively little detail about Yu Ji herself. In this musical version, Yu Ji has more space to speak about her choices and eventually decides to return to her story before setting off on a new journey with Salome.

The production also seeks to introduce Peking Opera to audiences with little previous knowledge of the art form. Yu Ji sometimes speaks English while retaining Peking Opera movements, helping spectators connect gesture with meaning, while long silk fabric, masks and fans are incorporated into physical storytelling.

"I want to lower the threshold for understanding Peking Opera while keeping its theatrical logic intact," Yue says.

She recalls meeting an audience member who told her before the show that he did not enjoy Peking Opera. After the performance, however, he stayed to discuss how the show helped him better understand some of its movements.

The score takes a similar approach, combining Peking Opera percussion and melodic elements with musical-theater songs, pop and Yue's own compositions. It features a guzheng (Chinese zither), flute and Chinese drums.

Yue studied Peking Opera in China before moving to Britain at 14 in 2016, then trained in British drama and musical theater. She graduated from the Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts in 2024 and recently completed a year-long UK tour of Miss Saigon.

The Edinburgh run drew positive responses. Edinburgh Reviews critic Andrew Girdwood gave the production four stars, calling it an "inventive cross-cultural Fringe musical" and describing it as "Peking Opera meets Oscar Wilde".

Luis Garcia, a musical theater expert at Goldsmiths, University of London, calls the work "an ambitious and distinctive piece of musical theater". He says its use of Peking Opera and contemporary musical theater could introduce Peking Opera's theatrical language and cultural traditions to international audiences and contribute to wider intercultural discussion.

The production builds on earlier theatrical collaborations between Chinese and British artists. In 2016, the Shanghai Dramatic Arts Centre and British physical-theater company Gecko created The Dreamer, drawing on Chinese playwright Tang Xianzu's The Peony Pavilion and Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream.

"We want to keep exploring how Chinese theater, history and cultural traditions can work with Western stage storytelling, and hopefully develop more original productions from that," Wang Yanli, the production's associate producer, says.