A Pipe Dream

When: March 14-17, 7:30 pm Where: National Center for the Performing Arts, Beijing

Adapted from The World Inside a Pillow, written during the Tang Dynasty (618-907), the play premiered at the Festival d’Avignon, France, in 2011.

It has been performed at home and abroad in recent years, winning high praise.

It tells the story of farmer and scholar Lu Sheng who meets a Taoist priest surnamed Lyu at an inn. Lyu gives Lu a magic pillow. As Lu places his head on the pillow and falls asleep, the owner of the inn is cooking millet. Lu has a dream in which he experiences an entire life. However, when he wakes, he realizes that the inn owner is still cooking the millet.

The media has hailed director Huang Ying as the “leader of China’s young directors” because of his traditional artistic fundamentals and international perspective.