I have seen performances where the fact that the actors spoke Chinese seemed like a barrier, but in ‘White Snake’, speech, song, music and acting merge into a captivating whole. ‘White Snake’ is directed by Giacomo Ravicchio, artistic director of Teater Meridiano in Copenhagen. With a sure instinct, he challenges the Chinese acting tradition and adds a Western European sensuality that makes ‘White Snake’ a powerful and unforgettable experience.
- Lene Kryger- Scene
Giacomo Ravicchio, award-winning playwright, director, set designer, actor and co-founder of the Meridiano Theatre in Copenhagen, has collaborated with Shanghai's only national theatre, the Shanghai Dramatic Arts Centre, to create the play Lady White Snake, based on a Chinese folk tale of the same name. The play premiered in Shanghai in July 2009 and surprised audiences with
Giacomo's interpretation, which hints at homosexual love and features an impressive narrative form with no less than seven screens on stage. Lady White Snake is the story of a white and a green snake demon who transform themselves into beautiful women to visit the human world. The white snake falls head over heels in love with the young, handsome man Xu Xian. A true but also impossible love that is sabotaged from all sides. Modern technology is a big part of the performance, and the audience witnesses impressive visions on the screens, which are transformed into living images and tableaux. This has led several reviewers to cheer and compare the impressions to the experience of watching a film.
- Andreas Norris - Kulturværftet
In Ravicchio's work, the audience often witness the employment of all kinds of cinematic techniques and ideologies, amazing his understanding of the stage, the utilization of the space, the employment of the multimedia technology, and the melange of singing, dancing and acting
You will surely be awed by these beautiful visual experience on stage
When watching this show, you will feel as if the actors are within beautiful painting.
it feel like watching a movie
-- Shanghai Metro Express
Giacomo Ravicchio gives to the most ancient legend of China, a new sense of rebirth.
-- Kyeonqin News Seul Korea
Beautiful as a Chinese painting.
-- Uijeongbu International Korea
Whether you’re familiar or not with the original story,
Ravicchio’s adaptation is mythical, beautiful and charged with drama.
-- Angel Huang Austarlian Stage
The deft hand of Italian dramatist Giacomo Ravicchio places some
of Shanghai’s best performers against a backdrop of projected live illustration and traditional imagery.
-- Tasmanian's Arts Festival