Electric agenda puts emotion center stage

Previously, Nie was a well-known theater poster designer. She graduated from the Central Academy of Fine Arts, specializing in visual communication. She organized poster installation art exhibitions in Beijing in 2017 and 2019, and her work has been displayed at prestigious events like the Florence Biennale and the Venice Architecture Biennale.

Nie had a strong connection to theater before directing her first play and served as the graphic visual director for such events as the Beijing Youth Drama Festival and the Wuzhen Theatre Festival.

"Designing posters for plays is like staging a performance on paper, turning paper into a stage. It's a three-second art and needs to capture the essence of the play in that short time, encouraging the audience to step into the theater and buy tickets," she explains.

"The theater has always been incredibly captivating for me. It's a blend of various contemporary art forms — design, acting, directing, lighting, music, stage design and visual arts."

In April last year, she organized a metaverse theater festival that brought together tech companies working on metaverse, AIGC (AI generated content) and virtual human development. The event aimed to explore how theater arts could merge with technology.

In July last year, she decided to create a play and started collaborating with Huang on the script.

"The way the script is brought to life changes every day. Sometimes, a single image sparks new ideas, serving as a clue to gradually develop the storyline," Nie says.

"Transitioning from two-dimensional to three-dimensional creativity is quite challenging. What used to involve solving just two or three issues now requires addressing more than 20 or 30.However, I find this challenge has brought me a unique experience and a renewed sense of enjoyment."

She felt a bit nervous and unsure about directing a play for the first time. Encouragement from renowned theater director Meng Jinghui helped her approach the challenge more confidently.

"Meng told me: 'You don't need to overthink what the final outcome of this play will be. It's a culmination of the books you've read, the people you've met and the various experiences you've had'," Nie recalls.

"As a creator, there are times when I feel like I have nothing new to say to the world. However, with Shakespeare's Garden, I get to express what I truly want to say," Nie says about her initial inspiration when stepping into directing.

"Whether it's real people or these 'electronic plants', both can become soulless shells. Exploring how to break free from the constraints of language, classics, instructions and trauma, and allowing the body to have a real soul — these are some of the themes I want to delve into with this play," she adds.