Men of La Mancha

Joseph Graves says theater for him has never been a career, but a way of life. Zou Hong / China Daily

My China Dream |Joseph Graves

He is tilting at windmills that will power the future of Chinese musical theater, but Joseph Graves tells Chen Nan that this is what makes him happiest.

In one of the last moments of the play, Man of La Mancha, Cervantes is being led away from prison to be questioned by the Spanish Inquisition. One of the prisoners says to him as he starts to leave, "I think you, Cervantes, and Don Quixote have much in common." Cervantes smiles and says, "God, help us, we are both men of La Mancha."

This scene is one of Joseph Graves' favorites and he likes to believe that he, too, is a man of La Mancha.

Since his late teens, Graves, 57, has spent most of his adult life acting, directing and writing for the theater and for films, in Britain, the United States and in many other countries around the world.

As he says: "Theater for me has never been a career, but a way of life."

And now this life is based in China. Graves, who comes from Arkansas in the US, set the base for his theater dreams in China a decade ago. He works as the artistic director at Peking University's Institute of World Theater and Film.

In 2002, he accepted an invitation from Cheng Zhaoxiang, dean of the School of Foreign Languages of Peking University, and a Shakespeare scholar, to work with students on Shakespeare's play, The Tempest.

"He told me that he had a strong passion to bring Shakespeare to life, to bring theater to life, rather than just read and study about it. I love the idea of doing that," he recalls. "I am very interested in seeing how different cultures mix in a play."

Cheng posted a notice on the university website and some 4,000 students auditioned.