Unraveling Don Quixote in China

• Source: Global Times
• [22:26 August 27 2009]
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By Guo Ying

Actors rehearsing a scene from Don Quixote

China's most famous avant-garde drama director, Meng Jinghui, is about to enter new territory, presenting an interpretation of Miguel de Cervantes' Don Quixote for the first time in China. While it might be hard to visual the pairing of the modern artist with a great Spanish writer who lived 400 years ago, Meng has announced that he is stepping out of his comfort zone to present the work close to its true form.

Meng's avant-garde productions usually bear strong experimental elements. He either turns classic works upside down or tears the classics into pieces. Light-hearted parody and loose storylines are quite common in his work.

When the news hit that he was to direct Don Quixote, most commentators predicted that he would once again deconstruct this Western classic “Meng-style.” However, Meng has shocked theater critics by announcing a classic approach to the work.

“To be honest, I had not read the whole novel before rehearsals. Then I spent one week reading it without distractions in a remote village. I was totally overwhelmed. It is a great literary work and all I have to do is to follow the original story faithfully. I am only a learner in the face of this classic,” Meng said.

With the full title, The Ingenious Hidalgo Don Quixote of La Mancha and originally written in two volumes 10 years apart, the story follows the plight of a man who becomes obsessed with books of chivalry and believes them to be true. He sets off on various quests and his actions and illusions are interpreted by most who he meets as a descent into madness. Tricked and deceived by his mind, friends and strangers, Don Quixote has been labeled as the most influential literary work to emerge from Spain's Golden Age.

Actor Guo Tao will play Don Quixote in Meng's drama and has spent countless hours preparing for the role, including losing weight. Don Quixote was depicted as a thin man in the novel so Guo wanted to be as accurate in his portrayal as possible. Through eating simple foods and vegetables every day, Guo lost 10 kilograms for the role. He also cut his hair to fit the character and started to grow a beard.