Playing Chekhov in China

It also draws inspiration from cinematic techniques and uses live video projections to amplify the acting or show perspectives the audience cannot otherwise see.

"Everything happens in real time, as is the case with live theater. The video enhances the performance, offering new perspectives and broadening spatial possibilities of the stage," he says.

While remaining more or less faithful to Chekhov's original, the production reworks the script into 24 vignettes that intensify the drama.

"I mainly adjusted and rearranged the structure, but preserved the four acts. This is a play that I admire and to which I would like to stay true, so my aim is to create a dialogue with the master, while making it more accessible to the Chinese audience and easier for our actors," he says.

Although the play's faith in striving for a meaningful life resonates with a modern audience, Li sought to make the classic even more relevant to Chinese theatergoers by narrowing the cultural distance.

"Sometimes, I felt we were not staging a play from another country. The actors are not Russian in their appearance or mannerisms. The only unavoidable aspect is the Russian zeitgeist and ethos embedded in Chekhov's work," Li says.

"So we set a guiding principle, that is, we do not try to resemble the characters in appearance, but strive to connect with their psyches. We have worked hard to make the characters portrayed by Chinese actors relatable and believable."

On Nov 11, a seminar hosted at the National Theatre of China brought performing arts experts and scholars together to comment on the production.

Wang Yichuan, vice-chairman of the China Literature and Art Critics Association, said that through its stage art and music design, restructuring of the plot, and well-crafted character development, the production effectively conveyed the essence of the original, and achieved an aesthetic balance between light and dark moods.