'The Age of Awakening' delves into the lives of Chinese intellectuals
The play "The Age of Awakening" revolves around the launch and development of Youth magazine from 1915 to 1921.
In an unusual experiment, an early release of the play "The Age of Awakening" is being staged at the Shanghai Dramatic Arts Center until September 12. A fresh, edited version will be staged in October and November at the same venue.
The play, which is based on the 2021 TV series of the same name, revolves around the launch and development of Youth magazine from 1915 to 1921.
It tells the stories of a diverse group of early-twentieth-century Chinese intellectuals and ambitious youths, including Li Dazhao, Chen Duxiu, and Hu Shi.
The play describes how the Communist Party of China was established following several social movements, including the New Culture Movement in 1915 and the May Fourth Movement in 1919.
The official version of the play "The Age of Awakening" is scheduled to be staged in October and November.
"The play gives us a chance to reflect on ourselves and learn about ourselves," said Yu Rongjun, the playwright of the theatrical version. "These revolutionaries found light from the hopeless despair and created a bright future."
Yu added that the new version of "The Age of Awakening" had a lot of dramatic tension. The structure of the play, according to director He Nian, was the most difficult challenge for the creators.
Unlike the television version, which had over 40 episodes, the theatrical version was limited to three hours. They had to simplify the stories while emphasizing the personalities of the characters. The plots that were dropped from the TV series will be visible to the play's audiences.
In a 2021 audience survey, "The Age of Awakening" received 35 percent of the votes for "the plays you'd most like to see on the SDAC's stage in 2022."
