The Nightingale – China – 26th August
26th August
The Nightingale-China
Directed by Sergey Grishin
From the empress’s perspective, the play explores her pursuit of power, wealth, and beauty, and her eventual realization of freedom and true beauty. Combining the traditional Chinese story “The Nightingale” with existential themes, it delves into deeper philosophical questions. The nightingale’s song symbolizes beauty and the quest for freedom and life’s meaning. The play is divided into four parts: imprisonment, loss, awakening, and return. The empress imprisons the nightingale in a golden cage, seeking eternal beauty through material means. When the nightingale stops singing, a mechanical nightingale is used, offering perfect but lifeless beauty.
When death arrives, only the real nightingale’s song moves it, prompting the empress to understand that true beauty and freedom cannot be bound by material things. She destroys the cage, turns her throne into a forest, and awaits the nightingale’s free return. The nightingale’s song ultimately signifies the return of freedom and beauty.
