The 8th China Children's Theater Festival will start on July 14 and to kick off the event, they unveil "Yueliang Cao (Moon Grass) as the first play of 2018 which will premiere on July 7.
The play was adapted from a folk comedy written by Xu Baoqi that was first staged in 1993.
"The play features a pair of siblings as the protagonists, a conscientious and practical younger sister and her idle and greedy older brother, who go in search of the mythical treasure of "moon grass". However, having acquired the moon grass, the brother is faced with imminent disaster rather than the wealth and honor he expected."
With sarcasm and humor, the folk story intends to convey moral lesson.
"We aspire to express the utmost good and beauty through sarcasm", Zhong Hao, director of the play, said, "It ridicules the pursuit of moon grass, a metaphor for aiming too high, and praises down-to-earth and industrious qualities."
While they keep the original work, the new production inserted innovations for the modern times.
"The script has been modified five times in order to conform to the aesthetics and values of today's children. I want it to be fun and enjoyable, but also close to reality," Yang Shuo, the playwright, said.
"Reproducing the old play and rewriting the story are the main features of this production," Yin Xiaodong, director of the China National Theatre for Children, said, "By repositioning the moral, modifying the plot, and choosing different art forms, we want to transform the play in a creative way."
"The themes of children's plays need to be simple and clear. We just want to convey one thing - happy lives can only be achieved through hard work rather than unrealistic fantasies," Yin said.
