Beijing legend gets modern treatment

Director portrays contemporary life in the capital with look at conflict between generations, Chen Nan reports.

Actor-turned-director Wang Ban made his directorial debut in 2017 by adapting Russian playwright Nadezhda Ptushkina's work, While She Was Dying. In 2019, he directed his second play, Beyond the Horizon, adapted from American dramatist Eugene O'Neill's play of the same title.

When he considered his third play, Wang decided to tell a Chinese story, which takes place in Beijing.

As a veteran actor and director, who graduated from the Central Academy of Drama, Wang, 49, has been working with Beijing People's Art Theater since 1989. He is no stranger to plays centering on stories set against the backdrop of the capital since the theater is known for its plays about old Beijing, such as Teahouse and Rickshaw Boy.

However, he wanted to make something different with his own directorial work, a production which reflects the contemporary life of people living in the city.

His new play, titled Beijing Tu'er Ye, premiered on Wednesday and will be staged until Sunday at Beijing Comedy Theater.

It tells the story of a father, who is dedicated to the old art of making Tu'er Ye, small sculptures of a Rabbit God, and his son, a young entrepreneur, who owns a 3D printing store. The son doesn't understand his father's attachment to his art and wants to replace the handmade statuettes with the 3D printing technology. However, the father doesn't want to give up the traditional art and strongly disagrees with his son's ideas.