Shadows of history
A new play kneads well-known Chinese tragedies into a compelling drama, Raymond Zhou reports.
Awintry landscape unfolds in Stan Lai's latest play, both visually and psychologically, yet the agony of memory finally yields to the hope of reconciliation as a pair of aging Chinese intellectuals find peace with each other and, more importantly, with themselves.
Winter Journey is essentially a two-hander. Lan Tianye, a veteran from Beijing People's Art Theater, and Lichun Lee, a long-time collaborator of Lai's from Taiwan, portray two writers whose friendship harks back to the 1940s. Political upheaval in 1966 turned the cordial relationship topsy-turvy - with Chen, Lee's character who is a poet and translator of T.S. Eliot, betraying Jin, Lan's character, who is an ardent lover of Franz Schubert.
