What's on

White

When: Dec 5-22, time varies

Where: Hangzhou Grand Theater

White is an award-winning play in one act created by Andy Manley. It is designed for audiences ages 2 to 4. It has received critical acclaim.

Cotton and Wrinkle live in a completely white world, where they care for eggs which fall from the sky, placing them in specially designed birdhouses. Color is banned, and whenever anything of color is found, it must be placed in a large bin. Their lives are happy and uncomplicated until one day, a red egg falls.

Cotton wants to care for the egg, but Wrinkle declares that it must go in the bin. That night, Cotton creeps out of the tent he shares with Wrinkle, and rescues the egg, hiding it inside an empty birdhouse.

The next morning, he is horrified to find that objects are beginning to change color.

Garage

When: Dec 5-8, 12-15, 19-22, 7:30 pm; Dec 7, 8, 14, 15, 21 and 22, 10:30 am, 2:30 pm and 5:30 pm

Where: Beijing Tianqiao Performing Arts Center

Garage is a humorous and noisy theater performance that smells of oil and gasoline. The play takes place in a mechanical workshop environment where the audience meet two men in filthy coveralls.

They are passionate and curious, with a strong fascination for how everything around them works. They have machines and engines that can solve the challenges they encounter during the day.

A hen also lives in the workshop. The hen lays a new egg every day, the only food source for the mechanics.

Garage wants to give the audience different aesthetics than is often associated with theater for children. The performance has no dialogue, but a lot of mechanics.

It was developed by Cirka Teater, a theater company in Norway.

A Doll's House

When: Dec 6-15, 7:30 pm

Where: The Capital Theater, Beijing

A Doll's House is Henrik Ibsen's best-known masterpiece. He paints a bleak picture of the sacrificial role of women in all economic classes in society. The play has had a far-reaching impact on the development of Chinese literature and drama.

In 2014, the National Center for the Performing Arts produced a new version of A Doll's House to mark the centennial of its China premiere, bringing together a top-grade crew and shifting the emphasis from solely feminist ideology to marriage and family contradictions.

The play, in three acts, centers on an ordinary family－bank lawyer Torvald Helmer, his wife Nora and their three children.

Flowers for Algernon

When: Dec 11-15, 18-22, 7:30 pm; Dec 14, 15, 21 and 22, 2:30 pm

Where: Shanghai PG Theater

Based on the novel of the same title by Daniel Keyes, Flowers for Algernon tackles many complex issues from the mistreatment and misunderstanding of the mentally challenged to the meaning of existence and the human condition. These are issues that people often tackle privately but have consequences for society in general.

The science fiction story, written in 1958, won the Hugo Award for Best Short Story in 1960. It is a character study of Charlie Gordon, a 32-year-old developmentally challenged man who has the opportunity to undergo a surgical procedure that will dramatically increase his mental capabilities.

Still Life with Chickens

When: Dec 18-21, 7:30 pm; Dec 22, 2:30 pm

Where: Shanghai Grand Theater

Award-winning playwright D.F. Mamea's slice-of-life story paints a vivid portrait of the local neighborhood and colorful characters.

When mama discovers a mischievous chicken invading her garden her first instinct is to reach for the spade. But what starts out as a skirmish develops into an unlikely friendship. An intimate, heartwarming, and funny play about friendship, loss, love and life.

Still Life with Chickens won the Adam NZ play award in 2017 and the Playmarket Best Play the same year.

It was developed with the support of the Auckland Theater Company.

Letter From an Unknown Woman

When: Jan 4-12, 7:30 pm

Where: National Center for the Performing Arts, Beijing

Based on Austrian writer Stefan Zweig's novella, Letter From an Unknown Woman tells the story of an author who, while reading a letter written by a woman he does not remember, provides him with glimpses into her life.

Directed by avant-garde theater director Meng Jinghui, it is a one-person show that stars Huang Xiangli, an actress and musician, who plays roles, including a teenager, an unwed mother and a psychopath.

Goldilocks and the Three Bears

When: Jan 4, 7 pm; Jan 5, 10:30 am and 3:30 pm

Where: Shanghai Grand Theater

Enter a world of wonder, as the magical Goldilocks and the Three Bears comes to Shanghai. It is based on a British 19th-century fairy tale.

It tells of a girl named Goldilocks, who enters the forest home of three bears whilst they are away. She sits in their chairs, eats some of their porridge, and sleeps in one of their beds.

When the bears return and discover her, she wakes up, jumps out of the window, and is never seen again.

My Siberia

When: Jan 6-8, 7:30 pm

Where: National Center for the Performing Arts, Beijing

The National Dance Company of Siberia will bring traditional dances in classic dress.

The company was founded in 1960 by Mikhail Godenko, a director and choreographer whose legacy has helped create modern twists to traditional dances such as My Siberia.

It has visited more the 60 countries.