Brilliant productions to play big part in theater festival

At the upcoming 2025 Shanghai Jing'an Theater Festival, 20 plays will be staged from April 25 to June 2. Over 85 percent of the productions will make their Shanghai debut and half are from overseas.

Julie by the International Theater Amsterdam is one of the overseas shows premiering in Shanghai. The Dutch company is particularly good at interpreting classic masterpieces from a modern perspective, says Xu Zhongping, the festival's program director.

This production of Julie premiered in 2022 and is a subversive adaptation of Miss Julie by Swedish playwright August Strindberg from women's perspectives. "We hope to bring shows on the frontier of the global theater scene and new theater experiences that break boundaries," Xu says.