Cooking A Dream at Theatre Studi

Lu, a young scholar eager for fame and fortune, meets a Taoist priest in an inn while taking shelter from a sudden downpour. While waiting for the storm to pass, the innkeeper brews a pot of millet and Lu falls asleep on the priest’s magical pillow, descending into a dream. He experiences the peaks and valleys of a full life where he passes the imperial examination, is blessed with wealth and fortune, and where he spends his final days in poverty and loneliness. He awakes in despair—the innkeeper’s millet still simmering on the stove—realising it was all an empty dream.
Inspired by the legendary Tang Dynasty novel A Story of a Dream ?????, Cooking A Dream expresses the popular Chinese proverb that says that glory, honour and wealth are nothing but shadows. A mesmerising fusion of traditional Chinese Opera elements and contemporary theatre, the production directed by Huang Ying premiered at the French Festival d'Avignon OFF in 2011 with 24 performances and was also well received by audiences in Beijing, Shanghai and Taipei.