Stage “Moonlight” to salutes Pinter

As a tribute to British playwright and Nobel laureate Harold Pinter, Moonlight, directed by Shao Zehui debuted at Beijing’s Fengchao Theater on September 7, shedding new light on the master’s work.

Meng Jinghui says he has adored Pinter’s work since his school days. “Harold Pinter is one of my favorite theater masters. He received the bulk of attention since he was honored the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2005. By then there were few Pinter’s works that were translated and introduced to China in a continuing and academic manner. This time through the collaboration with the Yilin Publishing House, we’ve tailored for our audience not only dramas based on Pinter’s works, but also readings of some of Pinter’s famous plays.”

As the curtain goes up, a beam of moonlight illuminates the deathbed of Andy, unfolding his youth, love, lust and betrayal. His two sons, Fred and Jake, sit in the shadows, speaking enigmatically about their estrangement with their father.

A scene from a Chinese adaptation of Pinter's Moonlight at the Beehive Theater. Photo: Wang Lu.

One of the most influential British playwrights of modern times, Pinter’s dramas often involve strong conflicts between ambivalent characters who struggle for dominance and for their own versions of the past. Stylistically, these works are marked by theatrical pauses and silences, comedic timing, irony and menace.

“I chose one of Pinter’s representative works of his later years, Moonlight. It’s an abstruse and obscure work that explores the estrangement between family members,” 32-year-old director Shao Zehui said.

“This play is a faithful presentation of Pinter’s work but the stage design is renovated,” Shao Zehui added. “When Moonlight premiered in London in 1993, there were two rooms on the stage, which separated the father and sons, to represent the isolation between human beings. But in our version, the characters all appear in one space, neglecting each other's existence. In this way, I want to stress this desperate estrangement.”