A morning jog in Beijing

It’s another humid and steamy morning in Beijing and I’ve just been out for a 6am jog. The streets surrounding the hotel near Tiantan Park are busy with people cooking breakfast and buying fresh vegetables. It’s going to be another hot day. I arrived yesterday to temperatures of over 30 degrees – a real contrast to my last visit to Beijing in January. I went straight to the rehearsal room where Paul Roseby, Artistic Director of the National Youth Theatre, was working with 10 young Chinese actors. They will form part of the ensemble for the Merchant of Venice. It was then off to the designer to finalise the programme – this took most of the afternoon, not least due to the designer’s office being in the far south west of the city. Lunch was a Chinese KFC eaten in the car. We stayed local last night – there are just three of us here at the moment including Tom, the Assistant Stage Manager and National Youth Theatre member. The rest of the company arrive on Sunday. Today will be spent visiting the British Council and spending some time in rehearsals. I’m also hoping to speak to Yang Qianwu from Beijing Dramatists Association to finalise arrangements for next week’s workshop.