Watery Wuzhen puts on a wave of shows

The Wuzhen Theatre Festival, which takes place each year in the ancient water town of Wuzhen in Jiaxing, Zhejiang province, boasts that — to borrow a phrase from Shakespeare — "all Wuzhen is a stage".

A long, narrow alleyway, an ancient dock, and a pole boat … performances can happen anywhere in the town. It's a place where the boundary between theater and the surroundings dissolve.

Even the moon can play a part. In the play, Run Away to the Moon, which was staged this year in the town's open-air Sun Moon Plaza, the moon merged with the performance at its zenith above the plaza, becoming the most sublime overhead prop.

In Chinese mythology, Chang'e is said to run away by flying to the moon, after she drinks an elixir of immortality, and turns into a goddess. In some versions, Chang'e steals the elixir from her husband Hou Yi, a legendary archer, while in others, she drinks it to prevent it from falling into the wrong hands.

The play, an adaptation of Lu Min's 2017 novel, reimagines the tale of escape in a contemporary setting. In the story, the protagonist Xiaoliu survives a bus accident and decides to disappear from her previous life. She assumes a borrowed identity and lives in the strange town of Wuque. As her husband searches for her, he discovers unknown sides of his wife.

"I've read many contemporary novels over the past two years. I first came across Lu Min's Run Away to the Moon earlier this year, and it particularly resonated with me," says Xiao Jing, the play's director and playwright.

"The story of Chang'e isn't entirely new to us, but Lu has given it a fresh, contemporary interpretation, writing a story that reflects the predicaments of modern life. I knew I wanted to adapt the novel for the stage even while I was reading it."