From August 12^th to October 7^th, the NCPA Theatre Festival 2022 will be launched as a three-month theatrical carnival. This year’s Festival boasts of six masterpieces, which will be performed for 27 sessions by a multitude of outstanding stage artists with ancient and modern, Chinese and foreign literary classics to appear on stage. Meanwhile, five children’s dramas will be staged to create a joyous NCPA Children’s Theatre Festival 2022 for little audience.

From August 12^th to 14^th, A Lifelong Journey, a drama adapted from a Chinese novel authored by LIANG Xiaosheng and presented with the 10^th MAO Dun Literature Award, will kick off the NCPA Theatre Festival 2022. The drama stays true to the literary spirit of the original, giving a visual and vivid picture of the civil life and times development. It is embodied in 50 years’ vicissitudes of life experienced by the ZHOU Family, as well as in their love and hatred for “Guangzipian”. The director YANG Jiayin will reshape the human world on the stage together with the playwright YUAN Bin and set designer ZAHNG Kangmei. Outstanding artists from the Beijing People’s Art Theatre, including MIAO Chi and LI Xiaomeng, will interpret the work heartily.

In 2012, Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, rearranged by Nick Dear and directed by Danny Boyle, was staged at the National Theatre of Great Britain and became popular worldwide. This time, British director Dominic Dromgoole and Chinese director LI Ren will interpret the playwright Nick Dear’s Frankenstein in its first Chinese version by joining hands with top Chinese and British artists. From August 31^st to September 4^th, the Chinese version of Frankenstein will be performed at the NCPA Theatre Festival 2022. This time, it will feature YUAN Hong, ZHENG Yunlong, YAN Nan, and WANG Maolei, as well as guest artists including HUANG Hong, ZHAI Wanchen, CHEN Qiang, and WANG Yanan.

From September 15^th to 18^th, I Take Your Hand in Mine directed by the theatre director LAI Shengchuan, will be put on attractively. In 2014, LAI Shengchuan staged a Chinese version of I Take Your Hand in Mine, which was written by Dr. Carol Rocamora, an American researcher of Chekhov. In 2015, it appeared at the NCPA International Theatre Festival. Based on more than 800 love letters that Chekhov and his wife Olga wrote to each other within six years, the drama reveals how the theatre master Chekhov shared his pursuit of theatre and art, something beyond their love, with Olga during his last years. The actress HUANG Shengyi and actor ZHAO Xiaosu will work together to interpret this couple’s life carved in those love letters.

From August 18^th to 21^st, Interrupted Dream, a drama directed by CHEN Peisi, will make a stunning appearance on the stage. This drama commission is a follow-up to The Stage, which was co-produced by famous playwright YU Yue and CHEN Peisi in 2015. The whole story is about “Hechun Troupe”, an opera troupe that has to wander from place to place in the flames of war. These turbulent days, with everything swaying in the midst of a raging storm, are relived from the perspective of common people and their destiny. The drama starring CHEN Peisi, boasts a cast of several veteran actors including LIU Tianchi, WU Gang, and HE Yu. The young director and actor CHEN Dayu (CHEN Peisi’s son) also performs in the drama. Besides, the complicated plot becomes one with the beauty of Kunqu Opera in the drama, where the cruelty of war presents a striking contrast to the beauty of traditional art, with the display and inheritance of the traditional Chinese culture and Kunqu Opera highlighted every now and then.

During the Mid-Autumn Festival, the NCPA will stage a number of Peking operas themed “Bright Moon at Mid-Autumn Festival”. SHI Yihong, a famous Peking Opera female role player in Mei school from the Shanghai Peking Opera Troupe, will head the bill and give a performance with well-known Peking Opera artists from the Jingju Theatre Company of Beijing including ZHANG Jianfeng, YANG Shaopeng and CHANG Qiuyue. From September 9^th to 11^th, they will act in traditional Peking operas including The Fourth Son of the Yang Family Visits His Mother, Red-mane Savage Horse, and Drunkened Concubine.

From October 1^st to 7^th, the National Theatre of China The Art in a Time of War will go on stage to round off the NCPA Theatre Festival 2022. It is an Anti-Japanese War-themed literary and artistic epic created in order to mark the 80^th anniversary of the Yan’an Forum on Literature and Art and celebrate the 20^th National Congress of the CPC. Through a splendid description, the drama reflects how literary youths, who cherish strong patriotism during the Anti-Japanese War, struggle hard alone to find a way out for China. Different artistic styles, such as literature, drama, music, film and fine arts, are applied in the drama, where there are also literary masters including LU Xun, QU Qiubai, GUO Moruo, TIAN Han, LAO She, OUYANG Yuqing, and XIA Yan. The drama has been identified as a key piece in the repertoire of the National Theatre of China for 2022.

Five children’s dramas will be performed 24 times for the little audience from July 29^th to October 6^th during the NCPA Children’s Theatrical Season 2022. The NCPA children’s opera commission Effendi, Nature Story Concert Spring Equinox and Summer Solstice, Spanish creative children’s play Flying Cat and Jumping Dog, which is based on a multimedia animation, Bonjour, Little Monsters, a concert of prize-winning European animations, and children’s play Cool Bug School Ⅰ will bring a new experience to children this summer.