A tale where justice counts

"The former president of the NCPA, Chen Ping, asked me if I would like to make another classic drama with the NCPA on the fifth anniversary of the production Jane Eyre, and I agreed. It was six years ago, in 2014," says Wang Xiaoying in Beijing. "As you can see, we have gone through a lot of difficulties to adapt The Count of Monte Cristo during the past six years.

"I want to use four words to summarize the drama: legend, romance, fantasy, reality. The novel itself is a legend. Romance refers to Dumas' way of writing. Our reorganized drama structure and the style of the set design are fantastic, while what we would like to show the audience is the reality of life," he says.

To stage the 19 century masterpiece, Wang Xiaoying and the creative team looked for ways to bring modernity to this adaptation of the classic novel. The yearning for kindness and justice, alongside hatred of crime and evil, in modern society can be conveyed to audiences. The modern way of portraying, deconstruction and reorganization of characters also gives the play new meaning.

During the past 20 years, playwright Yu has seen more than 60 of his productions staged by theaters around the world. However, despite rewriting script several times, Yu is tweaking it and looking to make it better. One thing that is unique about this adaptation is that Yu divides the protagonist into three different characters based on the three important facets of the life of the eponymous count. Two actors will help maximize the inner confrontation of Dantes and the tension of the plot, while set designer Liu Kedong uses the image of a box with a lot of symbolic figures of Marseille and Paris to signify the real and the spiritual worlds of Edward Dantes. Initially, the costumes reflect the French style of dress in the 19th century, but become more contemporary in the second act.