Director Li Gang’s first stage play “Time Capsule: My Father and Kazan,” produced for the third time, will return to the stage this year. In addition to original cast members such as Yin Shanzheng, Okubo Marina, Yi Qing Miao, and Fang Wenlin, actor Yi Zheng has joined the cast to perform this family saga.
This play is adapted from a novel by Yi Qing Miao, telling the story of the author’s father, the eldest son of the Yan family in Keelung’s mining industry, bringing home a Japanese wife. Due to identity, cultural identity, and class differences, they face life issues together. After its premiere in 2019, which stirred discussions among the audience, it was performed again in 2022, and this year it is announced to return to the stage for the third time from September 6th to December 8th.
Yesterday (June 18th), Li Gang led six main actors to attend a media tea gathering, stating that he has been making historical documentaries in recent years, but found this story too fascinating. In order to create dramatic tension, he chose to produce it as a stage play. It took two years just for the script, and both performances were affected by the pandemic. “Every time we performed, it was canceled, which was quite sad,” he said.
He also revealed, “I am very interested in the story of Yi Qing Miao’s parents. Taiwanese film and television often portray stories from the grassroots, but Taiwan actually had nobility. The situation they faced between China and Japan at that time, the drastic conflicts of culture and national identity brought about by changes in world powers, wars, ideologies, and resources, are important issues that modern people should understand with distance but warmth.”
Through the story of one of the “Five Great Families of Taiwan,” the Yan family in Keelung, Li Gang hopes to sincerely piece together a more dimensional, complete portrayal that closely resembles the truth of that time.
In the third rerun of the stage play, in 2022’s original cast, Yin Shanzheng and Okubo Marina respectively portray Yi Qing Miao’s father “Yan Huimin” and mother “Yi Qing Hezhi.” Yin Shanzheng, who has many lines in Taiwanese in the play, revealed that he is a native Tokyo resident and normally lives in Taipei. He had no chance to speak Taiwanese before and had to start learning it from scratch, which he found quite challenging.
Excited about this rerun, Yin Shanzheng expressed, “I feel very, very lucky and honored, and I hope this play will have a chance to be performed in Japan.”
Okubo Marina, like her character, is a Japanese daughter-in-law who married into Taiwan because of love, not like the character in the play who came due to marriage. She joked that in reality, she has also encountered language issues, but after living in Taiwan for a long time, she would pretend not to understand when facing family matters she does not want to interfere with.
A new face joins this year, with Yi Zheng playing Yan Huimin’s father “Yan Qin Xian,” acting as a couple with Fang Wenlin from the 2022 cast. This is also Yi Zheng’s first stage play in his 34-year career, jokingly saying that taking this role is like asking for trouble for himself.
He and Fang Wenlin have been friends for many years, but it is the first time they are playing a married couple on stage.
Fang Wenlin also stated that the two have a great rapport on stage, especially since she played the same character two years ago. She shared her stage experience with Yi Zheng privately, becoming a source of reassurance for him. Additionally, she plays dual roles in the play, portraying the Japanese best friend of “Yi Qing Hezhi.”
The original author, Yi Qing Miao, plays herself in the play. She admitted that she was worried when the play premiered, especially when the Yan family relatives watched it. After receiving their positive reactions, she felt happy that they could understand her parents accurately.
Chen Jiakui plays a documentary director in the play and has a lot of scenes with Yi Qing Miao, calling himself the “quarrelsome role” in the play.