Veteran actors bring a Russian comedy to life

The Chinese play Office Romance features actress Feng Xianzhen and actor Han Tongsheng. [Photo by Feng Yongbin/China Daily]

When Russian comedy film Office Romance was screened in China three decades ago, it was popular throughout the country. Now, a Chinese play adapted from the movie is set to wow Chinese audiences again.

Directed by Eldar Ryazanov, the film tells the story of Ludmila Kalugina, the general manager of a statistics bureau, and her subordinate Anatoly Novoseltsev.

Feng Xianzhen, 61, who dubbed for the unloved, bad-tempered and stubborn Kalugina in the movie in 1985, will play the role onstage this time.

Feng says: "When the production company came up with the idea of adapting the film into a theatrical work, I was very surprised.

"Imagine, after all these years, the film is still remembered by audiences ... It was in the early 1980s, when Chinese audiences first watched Western movies."

Actor Han Tongsheng will play the role of Novoseltsev.

Han and Feng have collaborated onstage for decades in productions like The Irony of Fate, which was also adapted from a film of the same name directed by Ryazanov in 1987.

Han says: "The Irony of Fate was the first drama, which had me play a leading role.