Wuzhen takes center stage as contemporary theater hub

Chinese theater director Tian Qinxin's directorial production Turmoil. [Photo provided to China Daily]

Zhejiang province's Wuzhen is celebrated as an ancient water town but is also gaining acclaim as a contemporary stage for theater.

The fifth annual Wuzhen Theater Festival will host 100 shows of 24 productions from 13 countries, including Russia, Germany and the United States, from Oct 19 to 29.

This year's theme is "luminosity".

It's divided into five series - classics revisited, female perspectives, multimedia productions, physical theater and new voices.

Chinese theater director Tian Qinxin will be the artistic director. The position was previously held by Taiwan director and scriptwriter Stan Lai and Beijing-based director Meng Jinghui.

"The festival's success comes from offering as many productions with as diverse of styles as possible," Tian says.

She recently spent over a month in the hospital with acute pancreatitis.

"The festival creates the collaboration in a space with the artists and audience. That's where you get the meaning of theater - a collaborative, imaginative space."

Eugene Onegin by Russia's Vakhtangov Theatre will open the festival.

The work doesn't fully adapt the namesake novel in verse.

Director and writer Rimas Tuminas chose Tatyana's love for Onegin as the main theme. It's a story with a prologue and epilogue. Audiences are introduced to characters' memories and imaginations.