A quarter century after his death, the plays of prominent playwright Cao Yu continue to inspire experiments and cross-border collaborations. A new adaptation by a French director with Cao's daughter, a renowned playwright herself, as the consultant, will be staged at a French theater festival this year, after shows in Beijing last year.

Theater specialists decided to ask French director Eric Lacascade to direct an adaptation of Thunderstorm, the family drama by Cao that became a hit in the 1930s with its elements of Greek tragedy and echoes of Ibsen, because they wanted a fresh interpretation.

Crossing time and space

When Lacascade read the play, he knew it would be a challenge to give it a modern setting with new interpretations. However, he was drawn by the universality of its themes. "Although it happened in China, it tells a story crossing time and space. This story can happen in any country and in any era. These themes have been told on stage since ancient Greek drama," he told Beijing Review.

For example, the issues of inequality between men and women portrayed in the play still exist, both in France and China. "These issues exist and a lot needs to be done to resolve them," he said. "I want to reveal the subtle and complicated inner world of contemporary people: their struggle, desire, predicament."

A combination of Chinese opera elements and Western theater techniques, the plot is about two families whose complex relationships lead to inevitable tragedies. Reminiscent of classical tragedy, particularly Oedipus, with its theme of incest and the past returning to trigger the downfall of a man in power, the play focuses on the Zhou family's psychological and physical destruction due to lack of morality. It leads to conflict between husband and wife and father and son.

Cao was the pseudonym of Wan Jiabao, then a young graduate of Tsinghua University in Beijing, whose other works include plays like Sunrise and The Peking Man.

What made Lacascade's production special was the inclusion of a second play, Thunderstorm II, written by Wan Fang, Cao's daughter, and seen as a sequel to her father's play. The new production was staged in Poly Theater in Beijing from December 23 to 27, 2020, the first time that Cao and his daughter's plays were performed together.

Establishing dialogue

How to make young audiences interested in classics was one of the concerns behind the staging of the play.

When Wan Fang attended a theater performance marking the 110th anniversary of Cao's birth on July 31 last year, she expressed the same concern. The 68-year-old, who started her career as a playwright in the 1980s, has also written scripts for movies and TV dramas. Thunderstorm II focuses on the characters' choices at the end of Thunderstorm and the people they will become.

Wan Fang is open to new interpretations of classics. "Inviting a French director is meant to create an integration of Chinese and Western cultures," she told Beijing Daily. "It also showed that Chinese classical dramas can be presented to foreign audiences."

Lacascade's travel plan was delayed due to the novel coronavirus disease epidemic. However, he finally arrived in China in October 2020, staying on till December.

"The purpose of integrating different dramatic styles is not to impose one culture over another but to establish a dialogue, to find an in-between, to make good use of differences instead of removing them, to allow conflicts and questions to arise and to find answers through our intelligence and sensitivity," he told Beijing Review.

His aim, he said, was to bridge different cultures and languages to present "a common emotion shared by different individuals in all times and all countries." And he regarded Thunderstorm as a guide that would help people to find solutions when they are facing difficulties.

In stark contrast to the true-to-life set designs that prevailed in China around the 1920s, Lacascade opted to have a nearly empty stage, with only a sofa and a long table. Besides the minimalist set, rock and roll-style music and eclectic costumes provided a blend of Western and Chinese elements.

It has been 87 years since the publication of Thunderstorm in 1934. Wan Fang believes the play remains relevant due to its understanding of human nature. "My father's depiction and exploration of human nature can touch people's heart," she told The Beijing News.

"Many people ask me about the definition of a classic since many of my father's works are considered as classics. My answer is that when a play is adapted and staged again and again and audiences from different generations share the emotions it depicts, it becomes a classic naturally," she said at the anniversary performance. "The key to creating a classic work is the writer's sincerity." 

(Print Edition Title: A Classic For Every Age)

Copyedited by Sudeshna Sarkar

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