Production is child's play

Bencao Gangmu, or Compendium of Materia Medica, a medical encyclopedia compiled by Li Shizhen, a Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) herbalist and pharmacist, has been transformed into a stage play, with science-fiction elements.

The eponymous production, premiered in January in Guangzhou, Guangdong province, was mainly created by children and teenagers of QFun Theater, a children's experimental theater troupe in China. The young members of the troupe wrote the script in nearly 30,000 Chinese characters, as well as composed original songs and choreographed dance pieces for the play.

In their rendition of the ancient Chinese text, the story begins with a futuristic world, where a virtual reality game is developed to help people deal with all kinds of crises. In one game setting, the players are teleported to the Ming era, where they witness the creation of the medical classic.

Xu Xihao, a teenage member of the troupe known as Haohao, is one of the scriptwriters and stage managers of the production.

"I joined QFun Theater in my sixth grade at school, learning the concepts of theater, and how to perform freely and authentically," he says. "It took me more than two years to come to this point, when other young members and I independently created the play."

Prior to the project, he had performed in QFun Theater's other productions, such as Flowers in the Mirror, a play adapted from the eponymous Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) fantasy novel and performed entirely by children.

The troupe is dedicated to producing plays from Chinese literature seen from children's viewpoints, targeting social issues such as bullying, prejudice and parent-child relationship.

The new production, coproduced by the troupe, the China National Traditional Orchestra and Guangzhou Opera House, is different from previous productions as it has been written by children, and mixes theater with folk music and kung fu.

It marks the first collaboration of QFun Theater and the youth folk music ensemble affiliated with the China National Traditional Orchestra.

Young instrumentalists from the folk ensemble performed live during the play with erhu (a two-stringed bowed musical instrument), pipa (a four-string plucked lute) and drums that reenact the ambiance of ancient China.

Following this collaboration, the orchestra and QFun Theater created a youth theater troupe affiliated with the orchestra, aiming to integrate traditional music with theater, and tell Chinese stories from the perspective of children and teenagers.

Zhao Cong, head of the orchestra, says members of the folk ensemble beamed with joy when they dressed in futurist outfits and performed onstage.

"It's extraordinary that children are inspired to transform our ancient classics into contemporary narratives, and promote the stories," Zhao says.

At the youth theater troupe's launch ceremony in Beijing on Feb 19, themed "bringing Chinese stories to the world", the troupe's new productions and tour plans for the year were announced.

The young members of the newly established theater troupe performed excerpts from Compendium of Materia Medica at the event, as well as poetry recital of A Spring Morning and choir song Looking for the Moon.

"Art can help children open up their imagination, and I hope there will be a place where children's creativity can be inspired and exercised. Therefore, we jointly established this youth theater troupe," says Zhao.

"In the past, our orchestra played folk songs and Chinese classical music. Now, we want to tell Chinese stories to the world."

The new troupe plans to take the play Compendium of Materia Medica on a tour to Turkmenistan, France and the United Kingdom, as well as major cities in China this year. The troupe's new original play The Book of Odes, incorporating traditional music, acrobatics and magic tricks, will also be produced this year.