Two birds with one stone

演员身着的衣服展示了黑鹳、东方大苇莺、金翅雀、丹顶鹤、赤麻鸭、中华沙秋鸭等栖息在野鸭湖的野生鸟类.JPG

Performers, dressed up as birds that reside at the Wild Duck Lake National Wetland Park in Beijing, on stage on April 27
The play is based on the story of an injured great crested grebe (left) being rescued and settling down at the park
A young spectator cannot contain his excitement
Performers dressed in fish costumes come down from the stage to meet the audience

Carnival Wild Duck Lake, an immersive play jointly produced by the China Puppet Art Theater and the Beijing Wild Duck Lake National Wetland Park, was launched on April 27.

Sitting at the foot of the Badaling section of the Great Wall in the suburbs of Beijing, the park covers an area of 283.4 hectares. It lies in the buffer zone of the Wild Duck Lake Wetland, the largest wetland nature reserve in the capital. Every year, a swirl of migratory birds stops here to rest, breed or winter.

Killing two birds with one stone—entertainment and education, Carnival Wild Duck Lake draws on real events conveying the harmonious coexistence of animals and humans in the wetland and weaves these together into a science-based play. The first public performance took to the stage on May 1. The play will become a regular show at the park—not a bird of passage.

(Text and photos by Wei Yao)

Copyedited by Elsbeth van Paridon

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