In a dark bamboo forest where no one lives, a man is killed. How was he killed? Who is the killer? Who is the villain? Who is the victim? At the site of this strange murder case, the suspect, the witness, the bystander, and the murdered victim each tells his own version of the story through a psychic, and the truth is never clearly revealed.

This opera is based on“In a Grove (Yabu no Naka),” a short story written by Akutagawa Ryūnosuke, which was made into the world-renowned film, Rashomon,by Kurosawa Akira. In 1998, Zhong Chuan-xing and Song Xi-ting took the story and the narrative form of the movie and produced Rashomon the opera, in which the man, the woman and the robber who are involved in the murder have distinctive characters and perspectives. Cao Fu-yung, a famous xiao-sheng (young male characters), Wu Xing-guo, a most versatile master, and Huang Yu-lun, the “Little Queen of Beijing Opera” who was a mere 20 at the time, took on the leading roles of the opera. Huang performed on platform boots. This was the first time the story was performed in Beijing Opera form with Beijing Opera vocal singing.

In 2014, the Jing-Ju Opera Troupe of National Taiwan College of Performing Arts put the opera on stage after some revision. Directed by Zhang Xu-nan, who was the troupe director, and featuring actors of the younger generation, such as Yang Yu-jing, Dai Li-wu, and Lin Ting-yu, the opera presented a new combination. By using a rotating stage, multi-media imagery, and pantomime-like silent drama, and without changing the original script, the opera vividly shows the multiple points of view and the cryptic atmosphere of the original work.