He Ju and Liu Lei left London yesterday to return to Shanghai. We’ve had a fantastic week with them. Monday’s meetings were followed by a writers’ workshop with Chinese, British Chinese and other British writers on Tuesday. It was good to have such a mix of voices and some wonderful 10, 50 and 100 word plays were written by Ben Ellis, Liu Lei, Tom Morton-Smith, Phil Porter, Amy Rosenthal, Jeremy Tiang, Rosaline Ting and Simon Wu. The following day, Theatre503 actors joined and with the directing team of Natasha Betteridge, Anthony Biggs, Antonio Ferrara, He Ju, Gene David Kirk and Paul Robinson, set to work. The weather was glorious and maximum use was made of The Latchmere garden as a rehearsal space. Towards the end of the day, we took He Ju and Liu Lei to the Lyric Hammersmith where they caught the last half of a discussion about Harold Pinter and The Birthday Play before seeing the 50th anniversary production in the evening.

Following a technical rehearsal on Thursday morning, everyone prepared for the afternoon’s performance. The quality of the writing, acting and direction was extremely high, with plays performed in English, Mandarin and Cantonese. 100 Words Associate Artists Jennifer Lim and Oliver Williams appeared in several plays as well as giving short ‘cultural snapshots’ between pieces of thoughts that had arisen over the three days. Our thanks to the other actors – Vicki Boreham, Fiona Button, Alan Cox, Lisa Diveney, Ellis Kerkhoven, He Ju, Liu Lei (who gave a memorial impersonation of an elevator), Wendy Nottingham, Jeremy Tiang, Jonathan Warde and Sargon Yelda.

The performance was followed by an informal, high quality and thoughtful discussion. Liu Lei and He Ju talked about their theatre, Shanghai Dramatic Arts Centre, and answered questions about programme development, new writing, censorship, international collaboration, diversity and China’s ability to embrace creativity, placing the latter in the wider context of social and economic development of the last 30 years.

The last day was spent introducing He Ju and Liu Lei to more theatre organisations including ATC, Soho Theatre and Paines Plough. We all got together for a final dinner in Covent Garden – not before He Ju had found himself taking part in a piece of street theatre. Our thoughts are now turning to how we might develop this three way partnership and take creative collaboration between 100 Words, Theatre503 and Shanghai Dramatic Arts Centre onto the next stage.

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Liu Lei (Ray) and He Ju have now arrived. We met them at Heathrow on Saturday and left them to explore Bayswater and Notting Hill, where they’re staying, on Sunday. Yesterday was spent in a whirlwind of meetings including Birmingham Rep, Yellow Earth Theatre and a freelance education practitioner who has worked extensively with major organisations such as the Barbican and English National Opera. We criss-crossed London, showing them the vibrancy of Soho and the South Bank, and the rich diversity of Bethnal Green. It was interesting to learn more about the new writing process in China and to compare notes. Whereas it can take one to two years to develop a new play in the UK, with the writer supported by a dramaturg or director, in China the process is much shorter and once a writer delivers their script, the commissioning theatre might decide to hire another writer to revise it. Today, both Ray and He Ju will be involved in a writers’ workshop at Theatre503 led by Natasha and Paul Robinson, joint Artistic Director of 503 with support from Gene David Kirk. There’s a good mix of writers coming and the plays generated through the workshop will be rehearsed and performed over the next two days.

Meanwhile, our thoughts were very much with the Chinese people when we heard about the massive earthquake in Sichuan Province. We’ve been to Chengdu, the provincial capital of Sichuan, many times and wanted to check that our friends at the Sichuan People’s Art Theatre were safe. We also were in touch with Neocha, the design company based in Shanghai, who told of tall buildings swaying and being evacuated – almost 1,000 miles from the epicentre.

We’re busy preparing for a week of activity with two artists, Liu Lei and He Ju, who are coming from Shanghai to spend a week in London. Liu Lei is a writer and also runs the burgeoning education department at the Shanghai Dramatic Arts Centre while He Ju is an actor and director. The week has grown out of the workshops delivered in Shanghai last November and will be hosted jointly by 100 Words and Theatre503. Liu Lei and He Ju will have a packed schedule including meetings with some of our leading theatre companies, a writers’ workshop, an informal performance and a discussion on the theme of making, showing and sharing new work in China and the UK. The week forms part of an ongoing collaboration between 100 Words, Theatre503 and Shanghai Dramatic Arts Centre and has been generously supported by a China-UK Cultural Exchange Award from Visiting Arts and British Council.