The Chinese edition of renowned Taiwan playwright and director Stan Lai's most famous play, "Secret Love in Peach Blossom Land," will be staged overseas. Its world tour is scheduled to commence when the show wraps its 100th performance in China.
The troupe will visit Europe, the Americas, Malaysia, and Singapore. Los Angeles has been selected as the first stop on the tour.
The play, currently ten shows away from its world tour, will hold its 100th performance in Beijing as the last stop of its domestic tour.
The drama tells a story of two theater troupes which are mistakenly booked into the same theater for rehearsal. One is performing a modern tragedy called "Secret Love," which tells of a dying old man in Taipei searching for the love he lost half a century ago in Shanghai. The other is performing the farce "In Peach Blossom Land," which lampoons the fabled utopia of classical Chinese literature.
The groups fight for the stage, but in the end, resign themselves to sharing it. What ensues is a juxtaposition of modern and ancient times, tragedy and comedy. However different they seem, when put together, the two plays point to a common theme, resulting in a question which is truly a tragedy.
Since the show's debut in Beijing in November 2006, the play has been well-received on the mainland.
(CRI April 17,2008)
