Shanghai art center to launch performance season

The Shanghai Dramatic Arts Center launched its performance season, titled Magnolia Blooms, in Beijing on Wednesday.

From Friday to Dec 17, it will stage a number of theatrical productions in Beijing.

The Age of Awakening, written by Yu Rongjun and directed by He Nian, will be staged at the National Center for the Performing Arts in the capital from Friday to Sunday.

Adapted from the 2021 hit TV drama with the same name, the Chinese play centers around the launch and development of Youth Magazine from 1915 to 1921 and tells the story of China's pioneering intellectuals, such as Li Dazhao, Chen Duxiu and Hu Shi in the early 1900s. It reveals how Marxism was combined with social movements by Chinese people and how the Communist Party of China was founded.

Other highlights will see Heroic Sons and Daughters, which is based on Reunion, a novel written by Chinese literary master Ba Jin (1904-2005), and Camel Xiangzi, which, also known as Rickshaw Boy, is based on the classic novel written by Lao She (1899-1966).

The company will also bring Chinese plays adapted from Western classics, such as The Pitchfork Disney adapted from London-born playwright Philip Ridley's first play and Twelve Angry Men based on US writer Reginald Rose's work of the same name.

Magnolia Blooms was launched by Shanghai Dramatic Arts Center hoping to bring its theatrical productions to the audience around the country. In 2013, 2015 and 2017, it brought the event to the capital.