Monkey：JOURNEY TO THE WEST
Synopsis
By Chen Shi-Zheng, Director
In a mythical time, on the Mountain of flower and fruit, there is a great stone. One day the stone explodes, expelling an egg. The egg hatches, and Monkey comes into the world. He bows to the four corners, and then exuberantly runs all around, jumping and laughing, and leaps into a waterfall in a bamboo forest. A chorus of little monkeys is showing off by racing up and down bamboo trees, doing tumbles, somersaults and all kinds acrobatics, leaping between the bamboo trees. Monkey is obsessed with seeking immortality and magical power, and travels over five continents to find a teacher. Deep in the Mountain of Heart and Mind he finds Subodhi, a Taoist master. From Subodhi he learns how to somersault on a magical cloud that can carry him 180,000 miles, and the art of transforming himself into anything he wants. Ubodhi calls him Monkey King (Sun Wu Kong): the Monkey with the realization of Emptiness. Scene 2: Crystal Palace of the Eastern Sea and the Iron Rod
First we see an animation of Monkey diving into the Eastern Sea, with water and sea creatures, and a palace gate projected onto a screen at the front of the stage. Then the screen lifts to reveal a actual Crystal Palace on Stage. Here Monkey meets flying fish, sexy clams, a chorus of shrimp soldiers, shark commanders and turtles, all played by the circus actors. Monkey seeks even greater power, and descends all the way to the bottom of the sea to request a weapon great enough to equal his abilities. He meets the Old Dragon King, who offers him the magical iron rod so great that it serves as the ballast holding down the ocean floor. This magnificent iron rod can change size at the owner’s will, from the size of a needle to size of a mountain. Scene 3: Heavenly Peach Banquet
Now in possession of this miraculous iron rod, Monkey King travels to Heaven to demand recognition of his power. There, seven fairy maidens, all in different colourful dresses, are flying on clouds, and are busily picking peaches from a peach tree formed by three contortionists. The fairy maidens are preparing a birthday party for the Queen Mother of Heaven, placing a peach on each plate on a large table. Monkey crashes the party. And drinks up all the celestial wine and eats all of the heavenly peaches, each one bestowing one thousand extra years of life. He then defeats all the gads of heaven, and wildly and loudly proclaims the he, the Monkey King, is a great sage equal to Heaven. Scene 4: Buddha’s Great Palm
The Queen Mother begs the Great Buddha to discipline the Monkey King, who is clearly out of control. Buddha descends to Monkey Kings Mountain. Buddha asks the Monkey King to demonstrate his ability .Monkey King leaps onto Buddha’s palm and does one of his great cloud somersaults in the sky. He lands in front of five huge pillars. Thinking he must have landed on another planet and wanting to leave evidence of his amazing journey, he urinates on one pillar and writes “Sun Wu Kong Was Here” on another. He somersaults back, only to find Buddha is furious. Monkey has peed on one of his fingers and written on another! Before Monkey King has time to consider the greatness of Buddha, whose palm contains the universe, Buddha turns his palm over, creating the Mount of five Fingers, imprisoning the Monkey King within. Scene 5: The pilgrims
Set on the same Mountain of Five Fingers, 500 years later. Monkey King has survived all this time by eating iron balls and metal liquid. Guan Yin, a Bodhisattva, sent on a mission from the great Buddha to find a true believer from china to journey to India (the west) to bring the Holy Scriptures to china. She finds Tripitaka , a young, handsome, devoted Buddhist. Guan Yin and Tripitaka then encounter his future disciples: first, Monkey King, then Pigsy, then Sandy and finally the Dragon Prince. Each of these immortals has been sentenced to servitude for breaking the laws of Heaven. They are persuaded by Guan Yin to join Tripitaka as his disciples to protect him on his voyage to India. In this way they can redeem themselves. Scene 6: The white skeleton Demon
Hearing that eating Tripitaka flesh will ensure her everlasting life, White Skeleton Demon transforms herself into o young country girl and waits on the road near where Tripitaka and his disciples will pass. With his magical vision Monkey King sees through her disguise and kills her. The White Skeleton Demon immediately takes the form of the dead girls grandmother, and again Monkey King sees through her disguise and kills the old women. Horrified at what he considers needless violence, Tripitaka chases the Monkey King away. The White Skeleton Demon again transforms, this time becoming the husband of the old women. As the old man, she demands compensation from Tripitaka for the death of his wife and his granddaughter. Monkey returns and kills the old man. Tripitaka curses Monkey and expel him form the group. Scene 7: The Spider Women
The travellers enter the Cave of Spider Women, where they are the only men. One beautiful Spider Women is hanging from the ceiling. She observes Pigsy, Sandy and Tripitaka and is determined to seduce the handsome Tripitaka. She and her comrades are trying up Tripitaka while Pigsy is chasing after them. Pigsy cannot protect Tripitaka and they are all captured. Eventually, Sandy escapes in search of Monkey, who can stop the seduction. Monkey King frees Tripitaka and they all continue travelling east to find the Scriptures. Scene 8: Volcano City
The travellers approach a volcano surrounded by a parched land of ash. The only way to cross the mountain is to put out the fire of the volcano using a fan belonging to the iron fan princess, but she will not lend it. Three times the Monkey King and his friends try to trick her into parting with it, and three times she blows them away with her great fan. Finally, the Monkey King goes to Guan Yin to seek help. Guan Yin gives him magic pills to make him impervious to the princess’ power. He returns to challenge the Iron fan princess who now cannot fan him away. Frustrated and tired, the Iron Fan Princess decides to retreat to her bedroom to have a cup of tea under the volcano. Monkey King transforms himself into a bee and hides inside Princess’ teacup. She swallows him, and while in her stomach he somersaults and performs on a screen, we see Monkey inside her stomach. She tricks Monkey into flying out promising him a fan, which turns out to be a fake. Monkey transforms himself into Bull Demon, the iron Fan Princess’ husband, attempting to find out where the original fans is without suspecting anything, she pulls a tiny palm leaf from her mouth, and , with a few magic words, it extends to twelve feet. Monkey takes the magic fan and puts out the fire from the volcano and his band cross the mountain safely. Scene 9: Paradise
A giant blue Buddha with golden hair is carved out of the mountain. There is scaffolding around the carving. Buddha’s disciples are climbing over the rocks, and are on the scaffolding, repairing the sculpture. A group of peacocks move around the stage and white cranes fly above the theatre. The sound of Buddhist chanting, and the ritual, rhythmic hitting of a woodblock with a mallet is consistently heard through scene. The fragrance of lotus is spreading like a mist into the audience from goddesses walking on wires in the auditorium. Tripitaka and his disciples finally arrive in paradise where they are given the great Buddhist Scriptures. A false Monkey and his entourage appear and a fight breaks out. Nobody can identify who is real and who is fake. Buddha asks guan Yin to identify Monkey but she cannot. Buddha illuminates the false Monkey and the Monkey King kills him. Buddha rewards Tripitaka and his disciples for their courage and perseverance. Monkey King becomes Buddha Victorious in Strife. Tripitaka becomes Buddha of Purest Merit. Pigsy becomes the Janitor of Altars: he can fly all over the world eating the offerings left on the Altars of the temples. Sandy becomes a Golden-Bodied Arhat. And the White Horse is returned to his former life as the Dragon Prince.
