''The Wilderness'' or ''The Savage Land'' (原野 Yuanye) is a 1936 play by

Cao Yu Cao Yu (, September 24, 1910 — December 13, 1996) was a Chinese playwright, often regarded as one of China's most important of the 20th century. His best-known works are ''Thunderstorm'' (1933), ''Sunrise'' (1936) and ''Peking Man'' (1940). ...

. The play was influenced by

Eugene O'Neill Eugene Gladstone O'Neill (October 16, 1888 – November 27, 1953) was an American playwright and Nobel laureate in literature. His poetically titled plays were among the first to introduce into the U.S. the drama techniques of realism, earlier ...

expressionist Expressionism is a modernist movement, initially in poetry and painting, originating in Northern Europe around the beginning of the 20th century. Its typical trait is to present the world solely from a subjective perspective, distorting it rad ...

theatre and relates a succession of murders and stories of revenge set in a forest. At the time the play was published,

social realism Social realism is the term used for work produced by painters, printmakers, photographers, writers and filmmakers that aims to draw attention to the real socio-political conditions of the working class as a means to critique the power structure ...

was the rage in China, and critics were not pleased with the work's

supernatural Supernatural refers to phenomena or entities that are beyond the laws of nature. The term is derived from Medieval Latin , from Latin (above, beyond, or outside of) + (nature) Though the corollary term "nature", has had multiple meanings si ...

and fantastical elements. There was a resurgence of interest in ''The Wilderness'' in 1980, however, and Cao Yu, then 70 years old, collaborated in staging a production of his play. Other notable modern stagings include that of Wang Yansong in 2006.Li Ruru ''Staging China: New Theatres in the Twenty-First Century'' 113752944X 2016 "There is no doubt that Wang Yansong's 2006 production of The Savage Land is a definitive reinterpretation that finally excavated the symbolic and tragic essence of Cao Yu's dramaturgy. The fact that this production took place almost 70 years.

Adaptations

The play was made into a 1981 film ''The Savage Land'', and an opera, of the same name by composer

Jin Xiang Jin Xiang (20 April 1935 – 23 December 2015) was a Chinese composer and conductor. He studied composition at the China Central Conservatory from 1954. In 1959 he received his Bachelor of Arts in Composition.

, in 1987.

References

External links

* 1936 plays Plays by Cao Yu Chinese plays adapted into films Plays adapted into operas {{1930s-play-stub