Best bets

Branagh Theater Live: The Winter's Tale

Date: Dec 17－7pm
Venue: Huangpu Theater in Shanghai
Price: 100-200 yuan

Shakespeare's timeless tragicomedy of obsession and redemption is reimagined in a new production co-directed by Rob Ashford and Kenneth Branagh, with the great Dame Judi Dench as Paulina and Branagh as Leontes. King Leontes appears to have everything: power, wealth, a loving family and friends. But sexual jealousy sets in motion a chain of events with tragic consequences. This play famously contains Shakespeare's most famous stage direction: "Exit, pursued by a bear", but this is just one of the many bizarre parts of this play, in addition to an inexplicable, groundless jealous rage, a 16-year gap in time, a wife hidden away in a closet, and on and on. Still, this is no reason not to miss a cast like this－and now you don't have to read it.

Contact: 021-5456-2471

NCPA Commission & Chinese Epic Opera The Long March

Date: Dec 21-25－7:30 pm
Venue: National Center for the Performing Arts
Price: 100-880 yuan

After the failure of the 5th counter-campaign against encirclement and suppression in October 1934, the Red Army is about to depart from Ruijin. After receiving the transfer order, Commander Zeng and Commissar Peng from a regiment of the Central Red Army cannot bear to abandon the sick and wounded to the enemy. Doctor Hong, Commissar Peng's wife, also stays to look after them. After the Xiangjiang River Campaign, the Red Army enters Zunyi and gets a chance to consolidate. The Zunyi Meeting Announcement is proclaimed later that night, which marks a historic turning point in the Chinese revolution.

Contact: 010-6655-0000