Introduction

Fully staged grand Beijing Opera is not often seen in the UK, but in 2005, Askonas Holt presented three full operas on tour, performed by the finest troupe in China, the National Beijing Opera Company of China. Led by the foremost actors of their generation, Yu Kuizhi and Li Shengsu, the company of over 50 actors and traditional musicians dazzled audiences in Sadler's Wells, the Lowry, Edinburgh Festival Theatre and the Salisbury Festival. The programme was specially chosen to display the range of this great theatrical tradition, with its exhilirating blend of drama, dance, music, mime and acrobatics. The operas included Legend of the White Snake, Suicide with a Golden Brick, and Forest of the Wild Boar.