A Midsummer Night's DREAMING Under the Southern Boughmade a splash in Beijing Tuesday. Students from Leeds University performed a contemporary adaptation based on the Chinese ancient playNanke Ji. [Photo by Zhu Xingxin]

Amazingly, this new version just made it all happen, by making the play easily understandable to people from different linguistic and cultural backgrounds, yet still preserving the original philosophical theme and depth.

"We are not singing that much (as the original opera) and we speak in English in the contemporary version," said George Clifford, who plays the male protagonist Chun Yu in the Southern Bough story. "I think one of the biggest changes is to get across time and literary excellence in the English format without trying to sound like Shakespeare."

Milly Stell, a student from Leeds University who plays the female protagonist, said the humanity lying behind the ancient opera was universal.

"I feel like the emotions even back then in the ancient original (opera) are still really understandable to us now. Everything that happens on stage is completely relatable to everyone who is watching," Stell said.

Liam Ashmore, the play's second leading male role, agreed. He said the play tells people not to be greedy. "We really think that everyone is an ant in this community (just like the play), but we sometimes needs to step out of this human world and not to be drowned up by things like gold and money".

Tang Xianzu (AD1550-1616) was one of the most well-known Chinese play writers during the Ming Dynasty (1368-1662) and one of his operas Nanke Ji tells a man's dream where he becomes the husband of a princess of the ant kingdom.