About Play Love Plays

Two solitary actors, a stage surrounded by its audience, some soul-stirring dialogue, and a few roles still waiting to be filled… This is a performance with blanks that need to be filled by the people present. This is a prepared performance – it's just that some of the actors have forgotten how they used to perform.

With rival actors, directors, choreography, lighting, music… everything in place, Play Love Plays invites the audience to join in recreating romantic moments from shared memories, capturing the unexpected and poetic moments of theatre.

Credits

Inspired by William Shakespeare, August Strindberg, Charles Bukowski

Director: Xiao Jing

Cast: Wang Xinyu, Tang Ke

Dramaturg: Annie Wang

Dramaturg Assistant: Yang Lin

Stage Designers: Liang Mei, Chen Xiaocui

Lighting Design: Wang Shuzhen

Voice Design: Li Luka

Sound Design: Tian Yulin

Style Design: Zhong Huizhen

Graphic Design: Jiao Jian

Producer: Wang Xianglong

Stage Manager: Zhang Jiaxuan

Stage Assistant: Wang Haoyu, Wang Xinyu

Present by MUMU THEATRE and The Routine Poems Institute (RPI)

About Xiao Jing

Xiao Jing works as a director and playwright. Her major works include the theatre installation Before We Flood Into History, which focuses on the contradiction between urban development and individual growth; Revisiting the Tale of the Peach Blossom Fan, which adapted a classic Chinese play for a contemporary context; the documentary theatre piece, The Brutal Game, which discusses urban crime; and The Naming of the Animals, which addresses the relationship between the science and tech industry and the capital that funds it. She was selected for the 2021 Linhai Bu Linhai residency, the 2022 Swiss Arts Council Artist-in-Residence, and the 2023 A4 International Artist Residency Program. This is her second production at Wuzhen.

About Routine Poems Institute

Founded in 2021, The Routine Poems Institute (RPI) takes the question “What if…?” as the starting point for all its work, introducing historical records and documentary material into the theatre. RPI focused on topics such as the plight of contemporary life, the impact of history on the individual, and the contradictions of urban development. RPI’ s works involve theatre, installation, performance and writing. It has created theatre works The Naming of Animals, The Brutal Game, Revisiting Tale of the Peach Blossom Fan and the installation Before We Flood Into History. Those works have been invited to Wuzhen Theatre Festival, Aranya Theatre Festival, Beijing Fringe Festival, Hangzhou Theatre Festival and Bu Linhai residency.