Ticket sales begin for the 10th Wuzhen Theater Festival

Theater lovers take heed!

The online ticket sales for the "Specially Invited Plays" of the 10th Wuzhen Theater Festival will start at 10am on September 17, at www.damai.cn.

Themed "Arise," this year's Wuzhen Theater Festival to be held from October 19 to 29 brings 28 works from 11 countries and regions around the world. A total of 87 performances will meet the audience in the 12 theaters in Wuzhen, an ancient watertown in Zhejiang Province.

One of the highlights is Stan Lai's "About the Long, Narrow Passageway." Lai's newest work is a site-specific performance that brings the audience into the evocative Hongchang Alleyway and adjourning Shen Estate Teahouse Theater. In the work, Lai seems to drift in and out of structure, into debate and music, from indoors to outdoors, from informal to formal space. In the end, the show is over, and audiences all exist through the long narrow passageway.

Another spotlight is "About Waiting for Godot." The show is set in "the ruins of the world," in a future more or less close to us, where all present and past wounds will be kept open. At this borderline of human existence, what are the minimum possible conditions for restarting life, a life that is worth living in?

The Wuzhen Theater Festival was founded in 2013 by cultural tycoon Chen Xianghong, actor Huang Lei, and directors Stan Lai and Meng Jinghui.

The festival consists of various interrelated parts: Specially Invited Plays, The Emerging Theater Artists' Competition, outdoor carnival, Wuzhen Dialogue and Wuzhen Theater Market.

How to get to Wuzhen:

By train: Take a high-speed train from Shanghai Hongqiao Railway Station or Shanghai South Railway Station to Jiaxing City, and then transfer to a bus or taxi to Wuzhen. You can also take a direct shuttle bus from the Jiaxing Bus Center to Wuzhen.

By bus: Take a long-distance bus from Shanghai East Bus Station Station to Wuzhen.

By car: Wuzhen is about 120 kilometers from Shanghai. It takes around two hours.

For more details, check www.ewuzhen.com.