'Mercury Light World’ is a Chinese opera by Cong Su, based on poems by Gu Chen and directed by Chen Shi-Zheng. Our work on this project began back in September 2004 when we were approached by the organisers of the Maerz Musik Festival regarding participation in the project.

The piece is based upon elements of the life of Gu Chen, an important modern Chinese writer, who suffered at the hands of the Cultural Revolution. In the late 1950s, he and his family was banished to the countryside, having been condemned by the Chinese authorities under the ‘Campaign against Spiritual Pollution’. Chen returned to Beijing in 1974. The literary critic Gong Liu then discovered him, at the end of the 1970s. Chen Shi-Zheng, acclaimed theatre and film director, was heavily influenced by Chen’s work.

flora&fauna visions worked closely with the production over a period of months in what was a real ‘work in progress’. Our task was to create a visual installation to be integrated into the stage set and 90 minutes of high-resolution video material. Additionally, we were involved in the shaping of the piece, working closely with the director. We also worked with the lighting designer Veit Gries and with the production design team.

The premiere took place at the Hebbel Theatre in Berlin on the 16th of March 2006 and played three performances. The show then toured to Basel in Switzerland at the end of March. There are further plans to tour to Brisbane in 2007.