OPERA TURNS A NEW PAGE

Adaptation of award-winning novel examines core issues with fresh techniques, Chen Nan reports.

'This is the life that you are most familiar with, the tables, the chairs and the facial masks hanging up there. You are living your lives and the only difference is that it's being staged in front of the audience," says director Zhang Manjun.

Standing on the stage inside the Mei Lanfang Theatre in Beijing, where classic Peking Operas are performed almost every day, Zhang, who is also a veteran Huangmeixi Opera actress, was in the middle of rehearsals for a new production, titled Leading Role, by the China National Peking Opera Company. Huangmeixi is a regional Chinese opera, popular in the areas of Anhui, Hubei and Jiangxi provinces.

Based on the novel with the same name by Chinese writer Chen Yan, which won the 10th Mao Dun Literature Prize, China's top literature award, Leading Role premiered at the Mei Lanfang Theatre this week.