Aaron Yap Design

A Night at the Opera: The Monkey King Subdues the White Bone Demon

Drama Theatre, School of the Arts, Singapore, June 2022

Project Director: Cao Ying
Set Designer: Aaron Yap
Lighting Designer: Aaron Yap

Produced by Re Huaxia Cultural Hub

A Night at the Opera is an experimental fusion of Western opera singing, drama and Chinese opera. A huge proportion of the plot took place during a Chinese opera performance, and as such, the set needs to emphasise the sense of a play within a play. The main set is a stylised representation of a traditional Chinese opera stage, complete with decorative beams and pillars, as well as panels bearing the phrases “Generals out” and “Premiers in”, which are at times deliberately lit to remind the audience that they are actually watching a play within a play.