Keystone Magazine Learning the Keystone Way 2015-2016 EN | Page 100

Chinese Thread
Thunderstorm
on Stage
The Keystone adaptation of the
Chinese play Thunderstorm
vowed the audience. This mas-
terpiece was condensed into
a two-hour, four-act play. Cen-
tered on the tragic and emo-
tional entanglement between
Fan Yi and Zhou Ping, the play
narrated how the eight charac-
ters from two families, within
the space of day, embarked on
a tragic path to doom.
The play was inspired by the
Chinese Language courses and
two Chinese Drama KAP clubs
under the supervision of Chi-
nese teachers, Gao Hongwei,
Pei Lu and Li Haiyan. Accord-
ing to Ms. Gao, not only did
the grade 10 students study
excerpts from Thunderstorm in
their Chinese lessons, but they
also got to read the full text
of the masterpiece as part of
their background reading list.
Meanwhile, using the script of
Thunderstorm as a key segment
of their Chinese Drama KAP,
the students also worked with
teachers in analyzing the play’s
characters and revising the
script with their own creative
input.
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When asked about his inter-
pretation of the script and the
character, Wu Yifeng from grade
10 who played one of the lead-
ing characters, Zhou Ping, said:
“Zhou Ping is undoubtedly
among the most complex and
conflicted characters in Thun-
derstorm, which required me
to delve deep into his inner-
most thoughts and sentiments
in order to give the character
credibility and artistic depth.
To understand the excruciat-
ing torment he goes through,
I needed to step into that very
darkness; to portray his utter
desperation or cold-blooded
hypocrisy, I tried to clear my
own thoughts and embrace
the conflicting thoughts, which
have become his very core, to
truly ‘become’ him. Life itself is
like a play, it all comes down to
each individual actor to portray
the character you are cast for.
The key issues we focused on
when revising the original script
were coherence, originality and
our own creative input.” Wu
Yifeng added, “Four of us were
responsible for the adaptation.
Each with his or her own inter-
pretation and preference; there
were times when we had to