The overwhelming success of the Peking’ Opera Company
tn Vancouver has focussed attention on the high level of
Chinese cultural activities. Photo above shows Li Ching-
Ming and Cheng Wei-shiu, outstanding folk ballad sing-
€rs from Szechuan Province.

—

TWO BRITISH FILMS TO
PORTRAY OSCAR WILDE

The first of two new British |
films portraying the life of
Oscar Wilde is currently show-
Ing in Vancouver. Commenting
On the two films which were
Tushed to completion by rival
film companies, the British
Daily Worker film critic says:

“Only the film critics and
he film crazy are likely to in-
dulge in both versions of the
Oscar Wilde story. So presum-
ably half the cinema-going
Public will in future think of
im in terms of Robert Morley,
8nd the other half in terms of
eter Finch.

“The Robert Morley half
Will have a more accurate pic-
ture of the man on the sur-
face—his appearance, his show-
Manship, his easy charm and
Wit. But for the complex per-

Sonality underneath, the dra-
Es

matist and poet whose inner

icontradictions have baffled

dozens of biographers, those
who go to see Peter Finch will
fare better.

“Both films have the same
characters, the same epigrams
(though scattered in different
places). They “even have the
same starting point—the open-
ing night of “Lady Winder-
mere’s Fan,’ when the excite-
ment of the brilliant success
is overcast by portents of the
coming storm.

“But although neither film
touches on any of the wider
ideas of Wilde, the social rebel,
the whole approach of War-
wick’s, The Trials of Oscar
Wilde is shrewder and more
fully rounded. It is not just
that Peter Finch gives the
deeper performance the whole
film digs deeper.”

Know China Better

Peking

PROGRES

44 Stafford St.,

Gift offer of —
(1) The People Have Stren?th, by Rewi Alley

or

(1) Stories of China, by Chinese writers
with every subscription to
English weekly from China, dealing with political, -

economic and cultural trends. $5.00 per year.
(Airmailed) :

Review

S BOOKS

Toronto 3, Ont.

Peking

Oper.

score

brilliant success

The Peking Opera presen-
tation at Vancouver’s Interna-
tional Festival in the Queen
Elizabeth Theatre last week
will be one event long remem-
bered by the vast audiences
which packed every perform-
ance and cheered to the: echo.

In its Canadian premier per-
formances the Chinese Classi-
cal Theatre company of the
centuries-old Peking Opera
won the hearts of Canadians
with its magnificent -interpre-
tation and symbolism of an
ancient culture, woven into the
pattern of a 1960 revolution-
ary age.

The brilliant costumes and
artistic talent of the Peking
Opera players, which included
folk-songs and _ folk-dancing,
thrilled enthusiastic audiences
from the first curtain to the
final number; an enthusiastic
response to great artistry and
talent which could not be dam-
pened by commercial press
coldwar “reviews,”’ or a hand-
full of nondescript ‘pickets’
herded together outside the
theatre by Koumingtang hood-
lums.

In the Peking Opera’s rich
repertoire it is difficult to say
which numbers were the most

at SN

This statue called “Awak-
ening” depicts the African
people shaking off the fet-
ters of imperialist rule. It
was done by one of China’s
leading sculptors, Lun Teh-
hui. Many works expressing
solidarity with the strug-
gles of the African people
are being produced by Chin-
ese artists.

foutstanding.” Even those
numbers from the old Chinese
classical theatre, often regar-
ded as being ‘difficult’ to fol-
low by Western standards,
were received with thunderous
applause. The “Dance of Red
Ribbons,” ‘Dance of the Lotus”
and “Dance of the Peacocks”
were almost indescribable in
their beauty, interpretive
rythm and brilliant artistry.

Perhaps one of the most
charming numbers was ‘The

|River of Autumn,” where a

young maiden, Mile. Ching-
fan wants to cross a river to
reach her sweetheart, and an
old boatman, Sun Sheng-wu,
after teasing her for a time,
agrees to get her across. With
no stage props other than an
oar and a pole to push the boat
along, this scene was per-
formed with a realism which
gave the audience the illusion
that it too was bobbing in a
small boat, experiencing all
the thrills of a hazardous cross-
ing.

A charming dance of five
little children around a huge
vegetable symbolizing a bum-
per harvest and the banish-
ment of hunger from their land

,also won enthusiastic acclaim
\from the audience. This sym-
bolic dance in a rich repertoire,
|the whole portraying the “joy
| of life and love of their native
|land, reflect the great trans-
‘formation for which 659-mil-
lion Chinese are working with
|all their might.”

The Peking Opera, true to
|its great tradition of expressing
ithe struggles of the people
{through the media of a rich
‘and ancient culture, interpre-
jted with magnificent artistry
lits “immense country’s new
| visiage,” and the people of
| Vancouver, (as will all Cana-
|dians who are priviliged to see
jthis outstanding performance),
| loved every precious moment
lof the Peking Opera.

“Let a hundred flowers
bloom,” said Chairman Mao
Tze-tung, and in the field of
interpretive art the Peking
Opera, in presenting “these
magnificent flowers of its
country’s art” to Canadian and
other vast audiences in Asia,
Europe and Latin America, is
doing just that, and doing it
with an unsurpassable artistic
brilliance.

TOM McEWEN.

HE day after President
Eisenhower made his mon-
mentous challenge to Mr
Khrushchev to a world-wide
vote on the question of Com-
munism versus the American
way of life, the following con-
versation (possibly) took place
between Eisenhower and Allen

Dulles:

Ike: What do you think, Allen,
was I too hasty?

Allen: No, Ike, not at all.

Ike: But what about China, 600
million, all Reds—and mil-
lions more born every year.

Allen: Don’t worry. We take
the poll on Formosa... can’t
change our diplomatic policy
can we?

Ike: Gee no. How about India?

Allen: Let it run. If the Com-
mies win, we get the Central
Government to cancel the
result—like in Kerala,

Ike: How about Africa?

Allen: Quit worrying. In Cen-

tral and South Africa, 99 out
of 100 don’t have the vote
anyway.

Tke: Well, France, then. They
are a pack of Reds.

Allen: Sure, but if they can
only get ten Communist MPs
for nearly five million votes.
why should we bother?

Ike: Italy’s worse.

Allen: I know, but we can al-
ways use the Sixth Fleet,

SECOND THOUGHTS IN
THE WHITE HOUSE

like in 1948—wonderful per-
suader.

Ike: Sounds good. Let me see
now—how about Siam, Por-

. tugal, Spain, Domincian Re-
public, Persia... ?”

Allen: Hold it, Ike, if we sug-
gest anything like an elec-
tion, they’ll all go through
the roof.

Ike: O.K. How about Britain,
then?

Allen: Dead easy—leave it to
Gaitskell and the House of
Lords.

Ike: And British Guiana?

Allen: Send a gunboat.

Ike: Guatemala?

Allen: Send the marines.

Ike: Sounds better every min-
ute. How about the arrange-
ments? Who’s going to run
it? i

Allen: Well, I’ve got two men
free now. Run in several gen-
eral elections and never been
voted down.

Ike: Say, who’re they?

Allen: Menderes and Syngman
Rhee.

Ike: Smart. Now what happens
if Khrushchey wins all the
same.

Allen: Why, we charge ’em
with rigging the poll. Every-
body knows the Reds hate
democracy.

BOB LEESON
In British Worker.

August 19, 1960—PACIFIC TRIBUNE—Page 5