Meng challenges audiences with Brecht's play

A Chinese director pulls together a cast of Australian actors to perform a German play in English. It would attract theatergoers in any of their home countries, and soon audiences in Beijing and Shanghai will get their turn to see it.

The Good Person of Szechuan by Bertolt Brecht, co-produced by Melbourne's Malthouse Theater and Chinese avant-garde director Meng Jinghui, premiered in Melbourne in July and will run at the National Theater of China from Oct 29 to Nov 1, as part of the Beijing International Theater Festival. It will be presented at the Shanghai International Arts Festival on Nov 4 and 5.

Meng, 50, was invited to present his trademark work, Rhinoceros in Love, at the Melbourne International Arts Festival in 2011. Marion Potts, Malthouse Theater's artistic director, was impressed by it and initiated a co-production. Meng saw an exciting challenge in this play, as he had never done Brecht's work.