{"id":4897,"date":"2017-02-24T07:52:02","date_gmt":"2017-02-24T07:52:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pingpongarts.org\/?p=4897\/"},"modified":"2017-08-29T01:53:23","modified_gmt":"2017-08-29T01:53:23","slug":"tim-robbins-on-comedy-politics-and-his-new-theatrical-show","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pingpongarts.org\/cn\/tim-robbins-on-comedy-politics-and-his-new-theatrical-show\/","title":{"rendered":"Tim Robbins on Comedy, Politics and His New Theatrical Show"},"content":{"rendered":"

As an Academy Award-winning actor, an Oscar-nominated director and an acclaimed screenwriter with a solo album to his name, Tim Robbins epitomizes the modern Renaissance man. However, as he tells That’s, he feels \u201cmost at home\u201d workshopping new pieces with The Actors\u2019 Gang, the theater group he co-founded in California 35 years ago.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo be in a laboratory asking new questions, working with new forms and testing the limits of my perception and knowledge is a place that feels quite exciting and inspiring,\u201d he explains. \u201cI enjoy living in the unknown, and working towards answers that lead to new truths about theater, acting and humanity.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"tag2\"<\/p>\n

Following its sold-out 2014 tour of A Midsummer Night\u2019s Dream<\/em><\/a>, The Actors\u2019 Gang returns to Shanghai (Nov 10-13 @ Daguan Theater at Shanghai Himalayas Art Center<\/em><\/a>) and Beijing (Nov 17-20 @ Beijing Comedy Theatre) with Harlequino: On to Freedom<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Written and directed by Robbins, the show is set simultaneously in 1530 and 2016. It\u2019s a comedy masquerading as a history lesson that examines how history is written, what constitutes humor, and the differences between servants and slaves \u2013 all through the medium of a lecture hijacked by roving actors who draw inspiration from both time periods.<\/p>\n

\u201cBoth eras were besieged with constant war,\u201d Robbins notes. \u201cBoth had economic instability based on disparity between the \u2018haves\u2019 and the \u2018have-nots.\u2019 Both had great conflict between believers and non-believers.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne Italian critic, in particular, truly understood [the play\u2019s] relevancy to today and to the Black Lives Matter movement in America.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"tag4\"<\/p>\n

Developed over a year through a series of workshops, Robbins traces the show\u2019s inspiration to the early scripts of commedia dell\u2019arte, a style of 16th century Italian street theater that tells the story of a servant trying to trick his master so he can pursue true love.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo also discover the story of how the Duke Gonzaga of Mantua was so offended by a performance of the commedia dell\u2019arte that he tried to kill three of the actors; these two things propelled me to write the piece,\u201d he adds.<\/p>\n

Following a rousing performance in Spoleto, Italy, Robbins has chosen China as the second stop for the world tour of Harlequino: Road to Freedom<\/em>. He\u2019s confident that Chinese audiences will embrace the elements of commedia, noting that \u201cthe story is universal and told in every culture.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI remember traveling in Bali and seeing the same story portrayed in Balinese shadow puppetry,\u201d he adds.<\/p>\n

\"tag5\"<\/p>\n

Through the show\u2019s modern setting, Harlequino questions historical fact and modern historiography. Robbins notes, \u201cthe powerful write history and the vanquished’s story is rarely told. In order to understand the truth of history, often times we need to understand who wrote it and read between the lines.\u201d<\/p>\n

In an age of so-called \u2018post-truth politics,\u2019 such issues are particularly pertinent. An outspoken activist, Robbins is forthcoming with his feelings on the current American election, comparing Donald Trump\u2019s presidential campaign to a reality show.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have never been so appalled at the behavior of a candidate as I have been with Donald Trump. He lacks a basic maturity and empathy to be the leader of a nation,\u201d Robbins says, comparing the Republican candidate and his advisers to the antagonists in Mean Girls<\/em> (\u201cthey seem to have the sensibilities of shrill, immature and nasty teenage girls.\u201d)<\/p>\n

As well as being notoriously outspoken, Robbins has long put his principles into action. Most of Harlequino\u2019s<\/em> cast teaches in The Actors\u2019 Gang\u2019s education program and Prison Project that uses theatrical self-expression as a way to unlock creativity and develop social skills. The program\u2019s rate of recidivism is 40 points lower than the state of California\u2019s average and has been expanded to eight prisons.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Actors\u2019 Gang isn\u2019t only about the acting,\u201d Robbins says proudly. \u201cBut also about the kind of work we do in the community.\u201d<\/p>\n

Shanghai:<\/em><\/strong> Nov 10-13, 7.15pm (with 2pm weekend matinees), RMB120-680. Daguan Theater,<\/em>Shanghai Himalayas Art Center<\/em><\/a>, see <\/em>event listing<\/em><\/a>.
\n<\/em>Beijing:<\/em><\/strong> Nov 17-20, 7.30pm (Thurs-Sat) and 2.30pm (Sat-Sun), RMB80-680. Beijing Comedy Theatre,\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

2 Xi Chang\u2019an Jie, Xicheng \u897f\u57ce\u533a\u897f\u957f\u5b89\u88572\u53f7<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As an Academy Award-winning actor, an Oscar-nomina [\u2026]<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4901,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[104],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4897","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized-cn"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/pingpongarts.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/TAG3.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pingpongarts.org\/cn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4897"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pingpongarts.org\/cn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pingpongarts.org\/cn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pingpongarts.org\/cn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pingpongarts.org\/cn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4897"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/pingpongarts.org\/cn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4897\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6320,"href":"https:\/\/pingpongarts.org\/cn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4897\/revisions\/6320"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pingpongarts.org\/cn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4901"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pingpongarts.org\/cn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4897"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pingpongarts.org\/cn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4897"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pingpongarts.org\/cn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4897"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}