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Thunderstorm by Cao Yu
Best known for his first play Thunderstorm, Cao Yu (1910-96) is widely regarded as the founding father of modern Chinese drama. Often compared to Shakespeare, Ibsen, Chekhov and Eugene O'Neill, Cao Yu achieved his canonical status in China due to his powerful portrayal of people and exploration of human complexity, and his works continue to touch the hearts of 21st-century audiences.  

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Thunderstorm by Cao Yu
Best known for his first play Thunderstorm, Cao Yu (1910-96) is widely regarded as the founding father of modern Chinese drama. Often compared to Shakespeare, Ibsen, Chekhov and Eugene O'Neill, Cao Yu achieved his canonical status in China due to his powerful portrayal of people and exploration of human complexity, and his works continue to touch the hearts of 21st-century audiences.  

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2025.01.31

Back to the Original Universe of Thunderstorm—A Stage Dialogue Between Li Liuyi and Cao Yu

Text / Lin Wei-Yu

Thunderstorm shocked the literary world and set new heights for modern Chinese theatre when it premiered in 1934. As the 90th anniversary of Thunderstorm was celebrated in 2024, various productions of this classic work were staged around the world. Li Liuyi, a stage director who has directed many of Cao Yu's works, also has his heart set on this work. This time, however, he stresses that this adaptation is "not subversive or deconstructive", and he is determined to return to the characters' most authentic psychological states.

Li has previously directed Cao Yu's works such as The Wilderness, Peking Man, The Family and Sunrise. Some of these works sparked debates, while others were highly acclaimed, but each brought a fresh interpretation that kept Cao Yu's plays timeless. Li describes directing Thunderstorm as a long-held dream, with the goal of "bringing theatre back to theatre, humans back to humans". In an interview with FestMag, he points out that most previous performances of Thunderstorm were based on Cao Yu's revised version from the 1950s, in which the prologue, epilogue and some monologues were deleted, and part of the original lines were modified to fit the times. This time, Li will use Cao Yu's 1936 version as the basis for his performance, retaining the prologue and epilogue, while focusing on bringing the characters back to the "human" state as emphasised by Cao Yu in his creative statement, rather than just social symbols.

《雷雨》原作者曹禺Cao Yu, creator of Thunderstorm

Cao Yu once stated in a preface to Thunderstorm that the purpose of the play was not to expose the sins of extended families, nor is the story about karma. Instead, his aim was to reveal the cruelty of the world and the universe. Behind that cruelty, there might be a governing force—some call it "God", the Greek tragedies refer to as "fate" but in recent times, people have abandoned such ancient myths in favour of "the laws of nature". Regardless of what people call it, for Cao, Thunderstorm was a manifestation of his contemplation of the mysteries of the universe.

導演李六乙Director Li Liuyi

Though often seen as a master of deconstructing classics, Li emphasises that the premise of this work is to be "not subversive or deconstructive" but to "retain the linguistic style of that era", and at the same time not to act as a conduit for Cao Yu's thoughts, but rather to "focus on the most important psychological structures and logic within the play to reframe the story", so as to preserve its full dramatic character. He hopes that by returning to the original psychological state of the characters in Thunderstorm, he can reveal the hidden spiritual meanings and give them contemporary relevance.

Li's works are unique in the contemporary theatre scene—firstly in their alternative interpretation of the classic text; secondly in the extraordinary creation of stage space and visuals, which crafts a "new world" for each play; and thirdly in the rich and nuanced interpretation of the actors.

In directing Thunderstorm, he has shifted away from his usual abstract and minimalist style, and opted for a realistic portrayal of abstraction, with renowned film art director Zhang Shuping in charge of stage design and overall visuals, which creates a confined, suffocating space that sparks the imagination. To achieve this complexity, Li's longtime collaborators, including Lu Fang (as Fang Yi), Hu Jun (as Zhou Puyuan) and Miao Chi (as Zhou Ping), are delivering outstanding performances that build dramatic tension.

Thunderstorm by Cao Yu
Date：Mar 5-9 2025
Venue：Lyric Theatre, The Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts

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The 53rd HK Arts Festival

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