The end of the world is nigh

Friedrich Drrenmatt wrote The Physicists in 1961 when the threat of nuclear extermination loomed heavily on the horizon. The same fear no longer exists today, but 26-year-old Wang Jiannan, the National Theater of China's youngest director, says the classic comedy still conveys a poignant message.

"Drrenmatt's comedy is very clever, and the situation he puts his characters in is ingenious and amusing," Wang says.

"The moral dilemma of the modern scientist no longer excites quite as much as it did at the height of the Cold War, but it is still a very effective play."