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[Photo/China Daily]

National Theater of China Taking Leave

Date: Jan 7-10-7:30 pm

Venue: National Center for the Performing Arts

Price: 100-480 yuan

The director Wang Xiaoying came up with an idea to rehearse and stage this drama after watching it 17 years ago. In the Chinese version of Taking Leave, the protagonist is a senior actor of Shakespeare dramas for his lifetime, instead of a scholar in the American version. Wang Ying noted that the so-called taking leave is a process of the sober and rational ego being away gradually from oneself. The story portrays a process of this old actor deteriorating from the brim of unconsciousness to complete unconsciousness. In the adapted version, the old actor is best at playing King Lear, which implies the coincidence of his life and three daughters with story lines of the drama. The director deliberately emphasizes the attentions paid to the life of Alzheimer patients, but also more importantly enables viewers to feel sincerely the delicate, complex ties of a family and feel touched by the kinship.