Director Li Zhuoqun Photo: Courtesy of Lu Lu

Beijing Peking Opera Theatre's new work Spring Banquet is set to be staged on the nights of December 28 and 29 at the Chang'an Grand Theatre, according to a press conference held by the theater on December 3. The original work, the last in well-known director and script writer Li Zhuoqun's Romance Trilogy, marks the theater's attempt to create operas suitable for today's market.

According to the director "love" is the theme of the opera. Using a complicated story structure the opera tells different kinds of love stories, from love at first sight situations to supportive love during times of hardship. 

"It not only creates three layers of time and space that span the past and present, but also tells a painful romance story similar to the one in Farewell My Concubine (one of the most well known Peking operas excerpts)," she said.

After years of retirement, renowned opera performers Luo Changde and Zhao Naihua will return to the stage for the opera. At the press conference, Chinese TV drama director Guo Baochang said that new operas are sure to bring young people back to theaters.

"They (new operas) are like flowers, not blossoming yet but still growing. We need to water them and share the stage with them and tolerate their mistakes and even failures," he said.