Visual Arts at the Natural History Museum
自然歷史博物館中的視覺藝術

Recently, the immersive theatre has become popular in mainland China, with some British immersive theatre companies, such as ‘PunchDrunk’ and ‘Les Enfants Terribles’, bringing their shows to Shanghai. Other companies have emerged within British theatre culture from different industries, such as Visual Reality, Augment Reality and drama education projects being accepted by many mainland Chinese audiences. Immersive fashion shows and immersive restaurants are also in progress in Shanghai.

Nowadays, the concept of theatre has been introduced to various industries, changing from the traditional setting of sitting in the theatre and watching a stage play.

For example, during London Fashion Week autumn/winter 2017, there was an ancient Mongolian-Chinese themed presentation held in the Natural History Museum for Sheguang Hu’s “Silk Road” Haute Couture Show. An exceptional location for a Chinese fashion brand, our journalist, spotted the show’s Creative Director, Mengqi He, a theatre practitioner specialising in performance arts and design.

Mengqi He created an unusual environment for the fashion show at the Natural History Museum. With her unique Asian aesthetic, the dark and the implicit, the catwalk was arranged in a square route underneath the massive skull of the blue whale, following the beat of traditional Mongolian music. The audience became quiet, and the scene seemed to transport them back to an era full of battle and blood.

The show was full of dramatic moments that, like a Hamlet stage performance, saw every single model become a character who carried their stories on stage. The way they appear on the catwalk, the way they stood and walked with those gorgeous outfits; those elements dragged the audience into the ancient world. It was a shame that the show seemed to lack a rehearsal, as the finale was slightly flat compared to the opening. However, considering the location and the heavy costume, it seems understandable that the rehearsal had been shorted.

Mengqi He expresses her feelings through visual concept, and when she met this fashion collection, it impacted her inspiration. Her direction led the audience through an experience that crossed both culture and history.

The haute couture collection itself, with its exotic elements, made the whole show special. During the daytime, the location is a major tourist spot; yet seeing the Natural History Museum during the nighttime, the stage seemed to have ancient spirits wandering around the corridors, with the music and lights enhancing the sensory experience.

Mengqi He’s theatre background certainly played a part in the visual impact, she used the lights and the first scene of the show to combine the dramatic elements. Though a fashion show can also highlight the historical background of a culture, this fashion show’s choice of location also helped to enhance this ‘immersive fashion show’.

 

中國近期在內陸地區掀起的沈浸式戲劇熱潮，隨著英國戲劇公司 “眩暈劇團和沈浸式戲劇“愛麗絲漫遊仙境”的在上海的引入，將戲劇概念應用到其他相關行業已屢見不鮮，比如虛擬現實（VR）,增強現實（AR）還有許多戲劇教育類的項目也正在被許多中國觀眾所接受，戲劇形式的時裝秀，甚至有沈浸式戲劇的餐廳也在上海籌備中。

戲劇的概念已被引入到各行各業，不再僅僅是作為坐在臺前和劇場中觀看的才被稱為戲劇。

例如在2017年倫敦秋季時裝周期間，有一場以中國內蒙古風情的時裝秀在倫敦自然歷史博物館成功舉辦。在這樣一個特殊的場地舉辦時裝秀，我們將目光聚焦到了這些從事舞臺和戲劇藝術的中國藝術家何夢琪。

作為與設計師胡社光’思路·名族’ (Silk Road)的視覺總監 （Show Creative Director）她將整個秀場氣氛制造地十分特殊，帶著亞洲人獨特的審美，黑暗而含蓄，整個舞臺起初只是被留出簡單的空間給模特行走，隨著蒙古族傳統音樂的波動，頭頂天花板上吊著的巨大鯨魚骨頭，安靜的人群，這些仿佛將我們帶回了那個充滿野性的異常世界。說它是時裝秀，它更像是一場哈姆雷特般的舞臺劇，每個模特都是一個角色，背後都是故事，他們出場的方式隨著燈光和音樂，行走的快慢，那些奇藝的裝扮，好像快要把人吸進去。這是一場即使不懂時尚也能完全看得心潮澎怕的視覺盛宴，服裝，場地，燈光和出場方式的結合都是十分有創意。令人有些遺憾的是排練似乎不夠充分，模特行走的路線和速度十分平淡，包括最終亮相似乎也有些’勉強’，但是在這樣的場地和厚重的服裝，想必後臺排練時間也是十分緊張。

模特和服裝是美麗具有異國風情的，另人目不暇接，而舞臺本身是在倫敦的觀光勝地-自然歷史博物館，在夜晚這裡仿佛有古老的幽靈遊廊間在遊蕩，隨著開場的音樂和燈光，邀人陶醉於另一個世界中。

這也許與何夢琪作為視覺總監（Show Creative Director）所擁有的戲劇背景相關，她非常巧妙地運用了燈光和出場方式融入了戲劇元素，即使是一部時裝秀，不僅完美突出了時裝的背景，還選擇了如此歷史性的建築，可謂是一場“沈浸式的時裝戲劇”。

戲劇的概念已被引入到各行各業，不再僅僅是作為坐在臺前和劇場中觀看的才被稱為戲劇。何夢琪想將這項戲劇視覺概念用最邊緣化的情緒表達出來，在這項時裝秀上，剛好碰撞出了火花，令觀眾確實地體驗到了一次穿越歷史和文化的異樣體驗。

 

 

Apart from this, we knew that Mengqi had various relevant drama industry experience, including theatre communication and drama education.

As a contributor for ART.ZIP, she has also been authorised by Patrick Tucker (author of Secret of Screen Acting, 1994) to translate his Shakespeare analysis and acting tips for actors in the Chinese language, in order to share his knowledge.

除此之外，她還活躍在戲劇相關的各個領域中，其中包含了戲劇翻譯和戲劇教育。

作為ART.ZIP的專欄作者，她也被英國莎士比亞與戲劇表演的著名作者同意翻譯他親手寫的作品，以此分享給中國對戲劇和表演具有熱情的人們。

 

ART.ZIP: What makes you want to work in the theatre industry? ”

HMQ: I love storytelling, I was the only kid in the family, so I was always alone and watching animation, films and reading books, and I imagined the feeling of being the characters. I thought this is where I started to dream about working in this industry. I wish I can share interesting stories and my vision with others, to have a resonance.

ART.ZIP: 是什麽促使你想從事戲劇行業呢？

HMQ: 我從小就很喜歡具有故事性的敘事，家裡只有我一個小孩，所以喜歡看小說，動畫，還有電影，並想象其中的場景，想象角色們的心情。這想必就是我的初衷。我希望自己可以與其他人分享一個有趣的，或者感人的故事，與其他人產生共鳴。

 

 

ART.ZIP: You have been working in many productions, such as design, acting, translation and education, why is this?

HMQ: Theatre can be used in many ways, not only when we are standing on the stage, this is what I believe. Every day we are someone else, we are in our characters; we are a mother, we are also a kid, we are seniority, we are also part of the society. Our characteristic changes when we face different people in our daily lives, and this made me realised that how similar our lives are compared to drama and theatre. The theatre came from our daily lives, and we should not separate theatre from the daily life since it’s part of us like any other arts format.

Translating books and articles are like a hobby of mine, I found the text sometimes get lost or misguided which depends on the translator’s knowledge and backgrounds, so I decided to translate text when I have time, for free. Most of the text is chosen by myself if I think they are interesting, or some theory that has not been discovered in China. For example, the studies of Shakespeare, in China it is still very classic, but when I met Patrick Tucker and Jennie Buckman, they taught me how to explore Shakespeare in a completely different way. So I feel that it’s my responsibility to share this with others, to help the Chinese people bring fresh thoughts into Shakespeare. I tried my best to translate it as close to the author’s thoughts, plus using my educational backgrounds in drama.

Same as the theatre education, that communication in our daily life is very important, and there are many pieces of training based on British actor’s training. I collaborated with the drama school I graduated from, the Central School of Speech and Drama, to set up a training system of Creative Communication and we’re trying to promote this new education program in China.

ART.ZIP: 你在戲劇領域有很廣泛的作品，例如設計，表演，翻譯甚至是戲劇教育，這是為什麽？

HMQ：戲劇可以被非常廣泛的應用到生活中，不僅僅只是站在舞臺上的東西才是戲劇，這是我所堅信的。 我們每天都在不同人面前扮演著不同的角色，我們是母親，是孩子，也是長輩，是父母，我們是公司的下屬，卻也作為這個團體的一部分，我們的角色根據面對的不同人物轉變，讓我覺得日常和戲劇裡的演員其實是如此接近。戲劇來源於生活，所以不應該與我們的生活劃清界限，它是我們生活的一部分，就和其他的藝術一樣。

翻譯是作為我的一個愛好，我發現文字在翻譯時會根據譯者的喜好與知識形成偏差，所以我決定在時間允許的情況下，做一些翻譯類的工作，他們大部分都是我自己挑選並覺得有趣的內容，或者是在中國還沒有的理論。例如莎士比亞的學習，在中國仍然是很古老的帶入年代的學習方法，而實際上我認識了Patrick Tucker 與Jennie Buckman之後，他們將莎士比亞與戲劇表演的帶入更加鮮活，甚至是顛覆性的，所以我覺得自己有義務將這些知識分享出來，盡我所能翻譯得貼合作者的思考，因為我在英國學習戲劇與從事戲劇的背景，做起來更加精確。

戲劇教育也是同理，對話與溝通是我們生活的重要部分，而通過戲劇來提高溝通技能在英國已經很多了，但是在中國才剛剛起步，甚至很多人還是不明確它的意義，我希望在中國能夠普及戲劇應用這項概念並引起重視。我與我的母校皇家中央演講與戲劇學院(The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama)創立了（Creative Communication), 在中國正在嘗試推行。

ART.ZIP: About Immersive Theatre and Virtual Reality…

HMQ: I really like these two concepts. One is to merge the boundary of reality and virtual reality, and the other concept is to bring the imagination into the reality. It is like to have a daydream, which is a very exciting adventure for me. I hope in the future these concepts can be developed a bit more. In China, there are already few immersive theatre shows brought over by British theatre companies. I also got invited to design an immersive dance show in Shanghai before this Christmas, and I am very interested in VR technology and exploring the ability to combine VR with installations.

ART.ZIP: 談談近年來大受歡迎的沈浸式戲劇與VR？
HMQ：我非常喜歡這兩個概念，一個是將現實與虛擬交錯融合，另一個是將虛擬帶入現實，就像做白日夢一樣，讓夢與現實模糊了，真是令人十分激動的發明。希望未來能有好的發展，中國已經有很多沈浸式的戲劇從去年開始萌芽，包括很多英國的戲劇公司也帶著作品進入中國。我也收到邀請，在聖誕節前夕在上海設計一部沈浸式的舞劇。VR也是我非常感興趣的技術，我正在嘗試將VR film與installation結合的作品。

 

 

ART.ZIP: Any future projects to share with us?

HMQ: I hope in the future I could continue to do what I am currently doing, I am very interested in multimedia and drama theory, like what I mentioned before, to develop something by using VR, or combine with body movements like dance, these are the areas I would like to explore in the future.

ART.ZIP: 有沒有未來的計劃可以分享？

HMQ：希望能在領域繼續做力所能及的事情，我現在對探索戲劇應用的內容與多媒體非常感興趣，像剛剛所提及的，用虛擬現實技術制作戲劇，或者是將舞蹈與其結合，將是我未來非常希望學習以及探索的內容。