About Reflection

A kind-hearted fisherman is bullied by the village thug and ignored by the other villagers. Only a duckling always accompanies him, but even the duckling is stolen by the village bully.

In a stroke of fate, the fisherman returns to his youth and regains his strength, but this time he chooses no longer to be kind. When he meets the village bully again, the fisherman kills the village bully and even burns down the whole village. At the same time, the reflection of the fisherman in the water looks more and more evil. When the fisherman is burning down the village, he hears the cry of the duckling, which awakens his conscience—but it is too late. The fisherman cannot get rid of his evil self and can only choose to die with his reflection.

A kind-hearted fisherman is bullied by the village thug and ignored by the other villagers. Only a duckling always accompanies him, but even the duckling is stolen by the village bully.

In a stroke of fate, the fisherman returns to his youth and regains his strength, but this time he chooses no longer to be kind. When he meets the village bully again, the fisherman kills the village bully and even burns down the whole village. At the same time, the reflection of the fisherman in the water looks more and more evil. When the fisherman is burning down the village, he hears the cry of the duckling, which awakens his conscience—but it is too late. The fisherman cannot get rid of his evil self and can only choose to die with his reflection.

Credits

Playwright/Director: Ding Yiteng

Inspired by The Picture of Dorian Gray

Cast:

Zhao Xiaosu, Ding Yiteng as The Fishman, The Reflection

Wu Bi as The King of Swamp

Liu Xiaoye as The Little Duck

Liu Tianqi as The Friend

Executive Team: YOMIX

About Ding Yiteng

Ding Yiteng is a director, writer and actor in mainland China. His best-known works include Injustice to Tou O and The New Romance of the West Chamber.

About Theatre for Living

Theatre for Living is a TV reality show produced by iQiyi, bringing young theatre artists to live and work together to create new theatre pieces. Since its premiere on the internet in early 2021, the 10 episodes of the first season have created a sensation and captivated audiences, who were given insight into the trials and tribulations of creating theatre pieces.

Theatre for Living brought together eight "unknown" artists: Liu Xiaoye, Wu Bi, Zhao Xiaosu, Liu Xiaoyi, Ding Yiteng, Liu Tianqi, Xiu Rui and Wu Haochen to live and work in Wuzhen. Unlike other reality shows that tended towards the sensational, Theatre for Living was more like a social experiment, showing the lives and ecology of theatre artists today. This was a breakthrough for reality shows.

Theatre for Living was shot entirely on location at Wuzhen. Every week there would be a new production presented at one of the different venues in Wuzhen. The audience was led through the creative process all the way to seeing the final production. Five plays chosen for this year's festival originated in the program.