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Fading of memories enriches new play
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“TO Forget, or to Die,” a play adapted from Chinese contemporary author Wang Zhousheng’s novel of the same name, will be staged at Shanghai Drama Arts Center in October.
The novel published in 2010 was nominated the 8th Mao Dun Literature Award, one of the most prestigious Chinese literature award. The two-hour play probes layers of life, including remembering and forgetting and love between parents and children, and among couples.
It stars professional actors from the arts center — Xu Chengxian, Song Ruhui, Wu Jingwei and Han Xiuyi.
Xu plays the main role of Xiao Zichen, who suffers from Alzheimer’s disease, or old-age dementia.
Xiao has three loves through his life, and when he comes down with AD, one of his former lovers adopts him and takes care of him. It breaks the peace of her own life, and Xiao’s forgetfulness breaks her heart.
The novel also reflects on how people of different generations struggle with different problems and perceptions.
“I am over 70 years old,” says Xu. “I have started to be forgetful about what just happened, but like to remind people about what happened when I was young. I like this character very much. He is full of understanding about his life.”
The author Wang was born in the late 1940s. Her grandmother died from AD, which inspired her to write the novel, focusing on the older generation in society.
“There are many art works about elders’ problems, and mine is focused on memory and forgetting,” says Wang. “Remember is living, and forgetting is death. Between memory and forgetting, we are looking for ourselves.”
“The original work reflects the forgetting of our whole nation, which suffered a lot in our history. But due to the length of drama, it’s a big pity that I was not able to reflect this point in the play,” Li Rong, the playwright, tells Shanghai Daily.
To present a realistic depiction of Shanghai local life, as well as the transformation of the city, three main scenes are designed on the stage — a Western-style apartment, an old apartment and a modern style.
Date: October 3-12, 7:30pm
Venue: Shanghai Drama Arts Center
Address: 288 Anfu Rd
Tickets: 120-280 yuan
Tel: 6433-4546
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