\\hich the production was generated and the direction. rather than the designs. Tbe Baccbae. also designed b\ Huang lIai\\ei. \\as performed by the China \ational Beijing Opera Theatre. Choosing to produce Tbe Baccbae using actors trained in the traditional style of Beijing opera guarantees an intriguing look into cross cultural s~l1Chronicity and dichotom\. The dualities are e\ident in the costllme designs. \\hich blend the form and decoration of Greek robes \\ith that of Chinese imperial dress. Some of the garments \\ere embroidered \\ith gold threads. "hile others \\ere bordered \\ith the Greek key pattern. From the photographs included in the exhibit, it appears that the chorus \\as designed more in the Greek style and the principals \\ere closer to the Chinese imperial court dress. The use of masks created an interesting aspect of duality, as the\ combined the Greek custom of three-dimensional facial masking \\ith the Beijing opera tradition of face painting. For example. Pentheus' mask has a permanent expression of surprise. \\ith an open mouth rarely seen in Beijing opera. but commonly found in the images from ancient Greek performance. His mask \\as painted in the style of the make-up for dall or female performers. \\ith the operatic face-framing de\ice of hair curls on the forehead. The ere shado\\. traditionally a chen\" blossom pink. ha metamorphosed into cold blue. With perhaps the greatest combination of east and \\est of the shO\\s presented in the exhibit. the production of Tllralldol \\as mounted as a joint \enture \\ith the Teatro Comunale in Florence. Ital\ in 199-. and then restaged in the Forbidden Cil\' in Beijing the follo\\ing rear. Zubin ~lellla ""as the conductor and film-maker Zhang Yimou. best knO\m for Naise lbe Red Lall/em. \\as the director. The production design team included Gao Guangjian. Zeng Li. lIuang lIai\\ei and Wang The Peony Pavilion, Shanghai Kunju Opera Company (1998); stage design by Huang Haiwei, costume design by Chen Shuyi, lighting design by Yi Liming. TI)&T I ,\ I I I l) I) t)