The Great Artist, Episode One | Taiwan's Only Bouffon Performer — Wu Tsung-en Joins The Great Artist to Discuss How the Wan Xian Tao Theatre Troupe Fuses Tradition and Modernity

From France's Philippe Gaulier theatre school to the Golden Melody Awards for Traditional Arts: the theatrical experiments of a writer, director, and performer

[Taipei] The Great Artist, the art-media programme produced by DE Global Art Agency, welcomes in this episode (EP1) Wu Tsung-en, a rare figure in Taiwan's theatre world: a performer of Bouffons (grotesque comedy) and an artist who works across writing, directing, and performing. In this in-depth interview, he describes how he forged a singular creative path between the nourishment of traditional opera and the critical reflection of contemporary theatre.

Wu Tsung-en's artistic foundation is inseparable from a period of study abroad. He once travelled to France, graduating from the Philippe Gaulier theatre school, renowned worldwide for its training in Bouffon and clown performance. The "grotesque comedy" taught there is a performance form distinguished by satire, subversion, and absurdity, and is exceedingly rare in Taiwan. For this reason, Wu Tsung-en has become one of the few native creators to cultivate this uncommon field, deftly grafting the physical training and comic logic of European theatre onto the operatic vocabulary familiar to Taiwanese audiences.

In 2015, Wu Tsung-en founded the Wan Xian Tao Theatre Troupe, formally registering it in 2020. The troupe takes four creative principles as its core: to "find the greatest resonance with the audience," to "identify with the land," to "fuse tradition and modernity," and to "create new connections with the audience." From its founding, he reinterpreted traditional repertoire in the style of French light comedy, crafting a refreshing new form of outdoor stage farce that breathed new life into the old theatrical stage. The members of the Wan Xian Tao Theatre Troupe come from many fields, from stage actors to Taiwanese opera performers, in a deliberate attempt to build an experimental platform that breaks down the barriers between genres. When performers of different training backgrounds share the stage, traditional conventions collide with contemporary movement, often striking out unexpected theatrical languages.

This energy of cross-disciplinary experiment has also translated into tangible recognition. In 2023, the Wan Xian Tao Theatre Troupe won the "Best Annual Production" award at the 34th Golden Melody Awards for Traditional Arts for its Taiwanese opera Wenwu Tianxiang, proving that tradition and innovation are not opposed but can fulfil one another through dedicated creation. For Wu Tsung-en, "fusing tradition and modernity" has never been a slogan, but a practice tested again and again in the rehearsal room and on the stage.

In this episode, Wu Tsung-en also reflects on how he views the relationship between performer and audience. He believes that true theatre should not be a one-way display, but a dialogue completed together with the audience; only by finding the deepest resonance with the land and with the present-day audience can a work truly come alive. This people-centred, land-rooted creative philosophy makes his work at once avant-garde and intimate, international and local.

For Taiwan's performing arts, Wu Tsung-en's presence carries particular significance. In an environment easily defined by the mainstream market, he has chosen the rare form of Bouffons and a vision shaped by study abroad to open new possibilities for native theatre. This resonates with the core concern that The Great Artist has long championed: with academically orthodox training as a foundation and the vision of an international career as a horizon, creators rooted deeply in the local can also command a stage on which the world can see them.

The Great Artist EP1 is now available on Apple Podcasts, SoundOn, and other platforms, with each episode running about 32 minutes. You are warmly invited to listen and step into the singular theatrical universe of Wu Tsung-en and the Wan Xian Tao Theatre Troupe.