A softer focus

Tennis balls, the eye-catching fluorescent yellow and green props used throughout the play, are a metaphor for the center of attention, according to the director.

They replace many other props, such as the wine glasses for Liu Bei, the emperor of Shu state, and Cao Cao, the emperor of Wei state, when the two discuss the topic of heroes.

Historical tales are reinterpreted in a way closely connected to modern-day society.

And it is a well-thought choreography that the actresses juggle tennis balls when delivering their lines.

"It's a success when you catch the ball(s). Then we need to see if it is a nice catch and if you are able to smile afterwards," says Yuri Ng, the choreographer.

Many people regard Romance of the Three Kingdoms as a guidebook to "catch a ball", or success. They analyze how to apply the tactics featured in the book to the workplace and interpersonal relationships.

However, in Lam's eyes, it is a book of lessons born from failure. "Many characters win in the battlefield but lose friends and freedoms," the director says. "The most important task for my writing is to find the tender spot," says the playwright Wong Wing-sze, who, as a woman, was not interested in the novel at first, stereotyping it as a book of men's wars.

"Later I found that these men also have sentiments that are similar to women's, such as jealousy and hatred, which I can relate to."