Master of menace still winning fans in China

Nobel Prize-winning British playwright Harold Pinter, who died on Christmas Eve aged 78, was undoubtedly a literary giant but debate about his legacy is already being waged in China.

Xu Ang, 30, a director with the prestigious People's Art Theatre, first read Pinter's The Lover when he was studying directing at the Beijing-based Central Drama Academy.

"I did not quite understand it at first," he says. "The characters kept talking in boring everyday prattle. It seemed weird to me then."