From Australia to the Palace of Art in China

By Liu Dongli

喬佩妮　Pene Quarry

In the Spring Festival of 2018, Han Show Theater,located on the lush shores of the East Lake, the biggest urban lake in China, attracted the most tourists, who were comprised of Chinese and foreign nationals.It is a world-class theater that accommodates an audience of thousands. In the past four years,it was Pene Quarry, a beautiful stage artist from Australia, who imbued the theater with energy and excitement.

It is her profound artistic talent, wealth of experience and heartfelt devotion to stage performance that has enabled her to shine as brightly as the spotlight that brings her craft to the world from atop this stage in the past four years.

When she graduated from the Sidney National Institute of Dramatic Art in 1991, Pene took on a migratory life for her artistic career, touring around and leaving her footprints in almost all the famous art centers in Australia. She rose to fame step by step, and eventually joined the team for the opening and closing ceremonies of Sydney Olympic Games as a stage manager. After that, Pene decided to challenge herself on a bigger stage, so she took her art all worldwide, to places like Germany, Switzerland,Monaco, New Zealand, Korea,Japan, Thailand, Singapore and Hong Kong, where she was the organizer and designer for a number of grand performances.In the winter of 2008, Pene came to China with the troupe of Cats(the famous Broadway musical)on its world tour, which was the first time she had ever been to Wuhan. The downy white snow that blanketed the city that year is still as fresh in her mind as the day it fell. Six years later, Wuhan Wanda Dragon Entertainment Company extended an invitation to her. After reading the proposal from Dragon, Pene felt it was the ideal place to live her dream, so she gladly accepted the invitation.

漢秀劇照　A performance at Han Show Theater

In Pene’s own words, she was born for the stage, which is the only place she holds dear. The more exciting and challenging the performance is, the more exciting she will grow. Usually, as soon as she arrives at her office, she drops her bag in her office and spends hours on end in the auditorium.She always orders delivery, as she has no time for a proper meal.Besides, she lives far from her workplace, so it takes her a long time to go to work, and from time to time, she leaves home before dawn and returns after dark. Even so, Pene is always energetic at work, and she seldom takes a nap during the day.

2018年春節(jié)，中國(guó)最大城中湖——武漢東湖之濱，有一個(gè)地方最熱鬧。這個(gè)地方叫漢秀劇場(chǎng)，一個(gè)世界級(jí)水平的大秀場(chǎng)，可以容納幾千人。四年來(lái)，讓這個(gè)秀場(chǎng)精彩不斷的是喬佩妮，一個(gè)典型的澳大利亞美女舞臺(tái)藝術(shù)家。

喬佩妮能步入這個(gè)世界級(jí)的舞臺(tái)，而且一站就是四年。這與她深厚的藝術(shù)功底、豐富的經(jīng)驗(yàn)和閱歷以及對(duì)藝術(shù)的全身心投入是分不開(kāi)的。

1991年從澳大利亞悉尼國(guó)家戲劇藝術(shù)學(xué)院畢業(yè)后，喬佩尼就開(kāi)始了走南闖北的藝術(shù)生涯，該國(guó)知名的藝術(shù)場(chǎng)所幾乎都留下她的身影。她一步步成名，并最終加入悉尼奧運(yùn)會(huì)開(kāi)幕式和閉幕式的設(shè)計(jì)團(tuán)隊(duì)，并參與指揮排練。悉尼奧運(yùn)會(huì)后，喬佩妮決定尋找更大的藝術(shù)舞臺(tái)，挑戰(zhàn)自我，先后去了德國(guó)、瑞士、摩納哥、新西蘭、韓國(guó)、日本、泰國(guó)、新加坡、中國(guó)香港等地，組織和策劃多項(xiàng)重大演出。2008年冬天，喬佩妮隨著百老匯音樂(lè)劇《貓》來(lái)中國(guó)巡演期間，第一次來(lái)到武漢，一場(chǎng)大雪讓她至今記憶猶新。時(shí)隔6年，武漢萬(wàn)達(dá)德貢演藝公司向她伸出橄欖枝。喬佩妮看過(guò)德貢的策劃書(shū)后，感到自己找到理想的去處，當(dāng)即答應(yīng)下來(lái)。

用喬佩妮自己的話說(shuō)，她是為舞臺(tái)而生的人。她喜歡舞臺(tái)，而且越刺激越有挑戰(zhàn)性的舞臺(tái)，她就越興奮。常常一上班，她把包往辦公室一扔就到演藝廳泡著，時(shí)常一泡就是十多個(gè)小時(shí)，連飯都不好好吃，除了外賣還是外賣。住地離工作地之間很遠(yuǎn)，喬佩妮上班要花很長(zhǎng)時(shí)間，有時(shí)離家天還沒(méi)亮，歸來(lái)已是披星戴月。即便這樣，喬佩妮總是激情飽滿地工作，很少看到她疲勞地歪在一旁打個(gè)盹兒。

A glimpse of Han Street where Han Show Theater is located　漢街一角

能力、熱情加上執(zhí)著是一個(gè)人成就事業(yè)的要素。對(duì)喬佩妮來(lái)說(shuō)，看到自己的創(chuàng)意給人們帶來(lái)快樂(lè)，聽(tīng)到人們對(duì)自己節(jié)目的喝彩，無(wú)疑增加了喬佩妮的價(jià)值認(rèn)同和存在感。她說(shuō)：“漢秀讓我愛(ài)上武漢，這里使我有家的感覺(jué)，感到很安定，就想在這里待下去。”

喬佩妮對(duì)武漢越來(lái)越有認(rèn)同感，她開(kāi)始學(xué)武漢話，學(xué)得還很像，很認(rèn)真。她像武漢人一樣，一直喜歡吃熱干面。她每天關(guān)心武漢的變化，覺(jué)得“武漢，每天不一樣”名如其實(shí)：“武漢變化太快，地鐵8號(hào)線似乎眨眼之間就修好了。”

從觀眾數(shù)、熱情度和評(píng)論等方面，喬佩妮更感覺(jué)到，武漢人的藝術(shù)素養(yǎng)在不斷提高，她說(shuō)，人們走出家庭，離開(kāi)電視，到藝術(shù)舞臺(tái)跟前來(lái)，不只是生活水平的提高，更體現(xiàn)著人們對(duì)藝術(shù)欣賞的需要。

喬佩妮是熱愛(ài)生活、用心生活的人，除了健康的作息方式，她一有時(shí)間就走到大自然中，帶上相機(jī)，拍拍柳芽初放、小草萌綠，在湖光山色間陶冶心情，從大自然中尋找靈感和快樂(lè)。今年是喬佩妮的本命年，她喜歡中國(guó)春節(jié)的喜慶，把自己的辦公室布置得喜氣洋洋。她還給每個(gè)員工發(fā)了紅包，和大家一起祈福新年。◆

Power, passion and persistence are the core elements for success.In Pene’s eyes, it definitely gives her a stronger sense of self-esteem to see that her innovative ideas have brought joy and smiles to the audience, who shows her a lot of love at the end of each show. “I love Wuhan because of the Han Show. This city makes me feel at home. I am comfortable living here, and I want to stay here for as long as possible.”

Pene gradually adapts to her life in Wuhan. She has made efforts in learning the Wuhan dialect, and it turned out that she has learned it pretty well. Like the Wuhan locals, Pene loves eating hot-dry noodles. She also cares about the daily changes taking place in Wuhan, and she agrees with the city slogan—“Wuhan,Different Everyday!” “Wuhan is changing so fast. It seems that the construction of Metro Line 8 has been completed overnight,” Pene remarked.

漢秀團(tuán)隊(duì)(后排居中者為喬佩妮) Group photo of Han Show staff (Pene Quarry is the one in the middle of the back row)

In terms of audience attendance, enthusiasm and commentary, Pene feels that Wuhan’s citizens have a greater and greater appreciation for art, and notes that people today tend to leave home and watch a performance in the theater, which not only indicates an improved living standard, but also people’s love and pursuit of art.

Pene loves life and makes each day count. Apart from living a healthy lifestyle, she gets close to nature whenever she is free.She likes to carry a camera to photograph the sprouting of the willows and the green grass, relax herself in a landscape of lakes and mountains, and find inspiration and joy in nature. This is the year of Pene’s birth sign in the Chinese zodiac, quite auspicious,as she was also born in the year of the dog. Out of her love for the joyous Chinese Spring Festival,she reveled in the ambiance of the festival by decorating her office with celebratory ornaments just like the locals, and she also sent out red envelopes to her colleagues and made new year wishes to all.◆

(Translation: Zhu Yaguang)