Introduction 作品简介

Blossoming (You Undo Me) is the UK's First Original Chinese Queer Musical, a musical about a young Chinese man discovering his queerness. A coming-ofage tale, covering sexual and personal awakening and self- discovery, an immigrant's journey and a chronicle of one family's changing dynamics. This is a crosscultural representations of queer characters across seven roles played by one actor, combining traditional Chinese opera with modern performance techniques, incorporating the singing and actions of Beijing operas, traditional Chinese puppet performance and Chinese opera freehand staging, delivering an exceptional musical entertainment with Eastern aesthetic expression.

have greater ambitions, as they propose dilemmas that everyone faces: Do you really know who you are? And are you true to yourself? Queer people are a sexual minority that do not confirm to mainstream perceptions of sexuality and gender norms, and public acceptance of this sexuality is not high in China at present. Queer people often live in a compromising situation, not fully understanding or knowing how to accept themselves. Director Xun Huang hopes to be the voice of queer people through Tao's journey and awakening, drawing heavily from his own life experiences. Xun Huang was born in China and joined the Shanghai Theatre Academy at the age of 19, majoring in musical performance, before later attending the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and Birkbeck, University of London, for a postgraduate degree in Text and Performance. Whilst rehearsing Blossoming, he was constantly searching for his true self and ultimately extends this exploration to every individual’s life struggles. Whilst this story focuses on minority groups, its themes resonate with all.

Doshel ZHANG

Dramaturgy Consultant

Graduated in 2022 from Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts & Birkbeck University of London, MA Text and Performance program (Directing Pathway). In 2019, graduated from University of Toronto and obtained BA Honors, double Majored in Cinema Studies & Drama, Theatre, and Performance.

As an independent theatre and film actress, director, and producer, she has been experimenting all kinds of creative form and style, trying to push boundaries in her works and to always explore potentials and possibilities.

Production credits: Director of musical Before/ After(2022); Producer of theatre FlightofALegless Bird(2021); Director of theatre Guo/MyFamily andMyCountry (2019), Si ShiZaiTongTang (2019), TheFarAwayUs (2020), and MissZhuLi (2020); Female lead of short films

TheMinuteBeforeIDie (2021) and DejaVu (2016), scriptwriter/director/ producer of short film You andMe (2017), etc.

张楠

戏剧构作顾问

又名：张苧予，2022年硕

《Blossoming》是英国首部华人酷儿音乐剧, 一个关于 亚洲酷儿在异国他乡对特殊身份自我发现和认同的故事，导 演跨文化视角为酷儿角色带来了新解读，同时他巧妙地将中 国戏曲与现代表演手法结合，别开生面地创造出一个演员饰 演七位角色的音乐剧，为中外观众带来了与众不同的音乐剧 新体验。其中包括京剧唱腔、学习梅兰芳大师的身段、木偶 表演和中国戏曲的写意表现，呈现了一个具有东方美感的音 乐剧。

As a member of Asian Queers, the director have been trying to outspeak an active voice for this group. Through his own journey and awakening, Blossoming ( You Undo Me) aims to inspire all audience to find their true selves, as the song at the end of the piece "To lovewhoeveryouwant,toloveandbewhoeveryou wanttobe", which is not just a problem for the queer community, but something that we can all relate to.

作为亚洲同性恋者的一员，导演长期以来感受到亚洲 传统价值观中对LGBTQ群体的回避与偏见，因而他一 直 在努力为这个群体发声。融合了他自己的旅程和觉醒， Blossoming (You Undo Me) 探讨的是个体如何自爱和自 我 接受的命题，正如作品结尾的歌曲所唱“Tolovewhoever youwanttoloveandbewhoeveryouwanttobe”，这 已经不再只是酷儿所面对的问题，而是所有人类个体都会面 对的共同命题，作品中流露出的对自由的真挚情感会慢慢唤 起观众自主追求本我的意识。