Actors and actresses of Shaanxi People’s Art Theatre performed the play version of White Deer Plain in Beijing and Tianjin this March, which received audiences’ praise.

 

A theatrical version of White Deer Plain, adapted from Chen Zhongshi’s novel of the same name and a script by Meng Bing, was staged by the Shaanxi People’s Art Theatre (SPAT) this March in Beijing and Tianjin. This play, directed by Hu Zongqi, portrays the hardships of three generations of two families living on White Deer Plain in Shaanxi Province. The play was well received by audiences and was complimented for having an authentic Shaanxi regional flavor.
 

Since its publication, the novel has been adapted for a variety of media. Given that it is a 500,000-character novel, it has been hard to adapt this work for the stage, relative to film and TV. This new script, based on the version used by the Beijing People’s Art Theatre (BPAT), makes some changes in terms of content and structure. For example, it uses just 29 carts instead of the original 33, and it utilizes conversations from villagers as background narrative to control the tempo on stage.
 

“The length and plot have been compressed to highlight the changes to the main thread, showing the intense conflicts, presenting a sense of history, and bringing each character on the stage to life.” said Meng Bing, who was also the playwright for the BPAT’s version of White Deer Plain.

In addition the success of the screenplay, the stage version by the SPAT also makes efforts to produce the play with Shaanxi regional characteristics. Though the cast is not made up of big names, most of them are locally born and bred Shaanxi residents who speak the dialect, giving the play an authentic Shaanxi flavor. In addition, the elaborate scene designs, such as royal ancestral halls, traditional Yaodong cave houses and haystacks, combined with the ambience of Shaanxi accent music laoqiang, immerses the audience in the historical epic of White Deer Plain.
 

The performance has attracted a lot of attention from local theater circles in Beijing and Tianjin and has been welcomed by audiences, receiving positive reviews for its authentic Shaanxi flavor.