Theater director Stan Lai held a press conference on Dec 3, announcing his new play, Die Winterreise, will embark on a national tour on Jan 15, 2015. The first stop is Beijing. This play is jointly produced by the playwright Wan Fang and artists Lan Tianye and Li Liqun.

The play was inspired by the Austrian composer Franz Schubert’s song, Winterreise. The melody of the song indicates the theme of Lai’s play. The play will present the happiness, melancholy and hope of life by the telling of stories among two young men and two old men. The script won the Laoshe Literature Prize in August.

Lai’s plays have been described as the “pinnacle of our ear of theater” and he is seen as the most influential and greatest Chinese playwright of our generation. His best known play is Secret Love in Peach Blossom Land (1986), described by the New York Times as “maybe the most popular contemporary play in China.”

Stan Lai, or Lai Sheng-chuan, is a playwright and theater director. [Photo/baike.baidu.com]