Classic tales get a reboot

Traditionally viewed as a simple story of revenge and justice, The White Silk Robe was given a new interpretation for contemporary audiences, especially the young, Pai says.

In the production, the hero "is torn between his emotions and reason, good and evil" when he finds out about the dark past of the man he once respected and loved as his father. But even when faced with the evidence of the grim crime he committed, it is no easy decision for the judge to have him executed, says Yu Jiulin, a seasoned Kunqu performer and the deputy director of the Suzhou Kunqu Opera Theatre.

In order to play the role, Yu went under the tutelage of Yue Meiti, a 78-year-old female Kunqu singer from the Shanghai Kunqu Opera Theatre who helped him to find more depth in his expressions.

The lessons with Yue "completely transformed me", says Yu who was primarily a jinsheng actor who performed the roles of young men in romantic stories.

As for The Story of the Golden Lotus, it is partly based on the Chinese classic novel Water Margin by Shi Nai'an (1296-1372).

In this story, Pan Jinlian is a sultry young woman who is forced to marry a dwarf.

Then, unhappy with her disabled and timid husband, she has an extramarital affair and eventually murders him when he discovers her transgression.