National Youth Theatre company arrive

It’s a gloriously sunny Sunday morning and the National Youth Theatre company have just landed in Beijing. Tom has gone to meet them in the company bus and I’m just about to meet Yang Qianwu to go over arrangements for our workshop this week. We’ve had a productive couple of days preparing for the forthcoming week. Paul’s rehearsals with the Chinese actors have gone extremely well – they’re a very talented bunch with a completely different physicality to British actors. Wang Zhan, an MA student at the Central Academy of Drama who has helped to source the actors, has been working alongside the group and is a real find. He will be operating the surtitles for the Merchant of Venice so is an essential part of the team. On Friday night, Zhan came with us to the National Centre for the Performing Arts to see a concert (conducted by Cai Jindong, Artistic Director of the China Internatinal Youth Arts Festival) and dance performance. The building looks amazing at night. After the performance we battled torrential rain to cross town for a delicious Taiwanese dinner at Bellagio’s. Yesterday we all went our different ways – Paul ended up deep in the countryside looking at the Merchant of Venice set, Tom was out trying to buy props including a Beijing bicycle and a coffin (impossible to get in Beijing) while I stayed local and after working for much of the day, met a friend and walked around the local area. It’s a very old and fascinating neighbourhood. After catching up and comparing notes, we ended the day with dinner at a Korean barbecue restaurant – we weren’t quite brave enough to try Ox’s brain or dog. Perhaps next time.