On April 30th, the NCPA production of Shakespeare’s comedy Twelfth Night ushered in its romantic and sweet opening night at Beijing Performing Arts Centre.
The production, staged during NCPA International Theatre Festival 2025, is a follow-up to other Shakespearean classics produced by the NCPA including Hamlet, King Lear, The Tempest, The Merchant of Venice and A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
Produced by a creative team featuring stage director WANG Jiannan of National Theatre of China, Twelfth Night stars members of the NCPA Drama Ensemble. A legendary romantic love story unfolds on the stage.
Viola (LIU Beibei) and Sebastian (WU Junda) are twin siblings who resemble each other. They get separated from each other in a shipwreck and accidentally come to a fantasy land named Illyria.
At Illyria the sister Viola, who thinks that her brother has died in the accident, disguises herself as a man to make a living, under the pseudonym of Cesario. She begins to serve Duke Orsino, who asks her to pay court to the noble girl Olivia (by YANG Qi) in his stead.
Duke Orsino (by SUN Lishi) has an insane crush on Olivia, and Olivia, who has vowed not to get married after her father and brother pass away, gives the duke the mitten several times, but she falls in love with Viola at the first sight. However, Viola has already fallen in love with Orsino, with things getting hairy.
A love trap is being secretly set in Olivia’s home. The butler Malvolio (by DONG Wenliang) is so paranoid and arrogant that he feels angry at Olivia’ uncle Sir Toby (by WU Song) and Sir Andrew (by YAO Yu), who loves Olivia, too, for their ludicrous behaviour in drunkenness. He even berates the maid Maria (by WANG Yiqing), thereby incurring public wrath. Others decide to play a trick on the hated butler.
Sir Toby, a heavy drinker, drinks all day long with Sir Andrew. The maid Maria, who is astute, and the clown (by ZHANG Xuewen) plot together to write a love letter to Malvolio by imitating Olivia’s handwriting, with the butler encouraged in the letter to show his love boldly. There is a special request that he should wear bright yellow stockings to highlight his unique taste.
At the end of the story, all the misunderstandings and conflicts come to a happy ending with the brother and sister having a reunion. The lovers finally get married, leaving the poor butler in depression alone in his yellow stockings.
The stage director WANG Jiannan sets the story in twelve nights in Illyria. There is an increasingly strong romantic atmosphere in the moonlight and sea breeze, while the “love trap” set for the butler, Malvolio, makes the drama much more hilarious.
As WANG Jiannan reveals that the creatives make the adaptation, a more colloquial, relaxing and compact one, in homage to Shakespeare. The stage scenery is modern enough to provoke new thinking on the classic and a fresh interpretation of it. The drama runns to May 4th.
On April 30th, the NCPA production of Shakespeare’s comedy Twelfth Night ushered in its romantic and sweet opening night at Beijing Performing Arts Centre.
The production, staged during NCPA International Theatre Festival 2025, is a follow-up to other Shakespearean classics produced by the NCPA including Hamlet, King Lear, The Tempest, The Merchant of Venice and A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
Produced by a creative team featuring stage director WANG Jiannan of National Theatre of China, Twelfth Night stars members of the NCPA Drama Ensemble. A legendary romantic love story unfolds on the stage.
Viola (LIU Beibei) and Sebastian (WU Junda) are twin siblings who resemble each other. They get separated from each other in a shipwreck and accidentally come to a fantasy land named Illyria.
At Illyria the sister Viola, who thinks that her brother has died in the accident, disguises herself as a man to make a living, under the pseudonym of Cesario. She begins to serve Duke Orsino, who asks her to pay court to the noble girl Olivia (by YANG Qi) in his stead.
Duke Orsino (by SUN Lishi) has an insane crush on Olivia, and Olivia, who has vowed not to get married after her father and brother pass away, gives the duke the mitten several times, but she falls in love with Viola at the first sight. However, Viola has already fallen in love with Orsino, with things getting hairy.
A love trap is being secretly set in Olivia’s home. The butler Malvolio (by DONG Wenliang) is so paranoid and arrogant that he feels angry at Olivia’ uncle Sir Toby (by WU Song) and Sir Andrew (by YAO Yu), who loves Olivia, too, for their ludicrous behaviour in drunkenness. He even berates the maid Maria (by WANG Yiqing), thereby incurring public wrath. Others decide to play a trick on the hated butler.
Sir Toby, a heavy drinker, drinks all day long with Sir Andrew. The maid Maria, who is astute, and the clown (by ZHANG Xuewen) plot together to write a love letter to Malvolio by imitating Olivia’s handwriting, with the butler encouraged in the letter to show his love boldly. There is a special request that he should wear bright yellow stockings to highlight his unique taste.
At the end of the story, all the misunderstandings and conflicts come to a happy ending with the brother and sister having a reunion. The lovers finally get married, leaving the poor butler in depression alone in his yellow stockings.
The stage director WANG Jiannan sets the story in twelve nights in Illyria. There is an increasingly strong romantic atmosphere in the moonlight and sea breeze, while the “love trap” set for the butler, Malvolio, makes the drama much more hilarious.
As WANG Jiannan reveals that the creatives make the adaptation, a more colloquial, relaxing and compact one, in homage to Shakespeare. The stage scenery is modern enough to provoke new thinking on the classic and a fresh interpretation of it. The drama runns to May 4th.
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