Secret Love in Peach Blossom Land by the playwright and director Stan Lai (Lai Shengchuan) is an iconic piece of contemporary Chinese theater and has been performed hundreds of times since its 1986 premiere by Lai's Taipei-based Performance Workshop.

Yuejue actor Zhao Zhigang (center) performs in the new version of Secret Love in Peach Blossom Land. [China Daily]

Now Lai, acclaimed as "one of the most influential playwrights/directors in Asia", collaborates with Hangzhou Yueju Opera Company to present a brand new version that combines modern drama with the old Chinese folk opera.

When Lai brought the play to Hangzhou in early 2008, the local government offered him a studio at the side of West Lake in the hope of getting him to create something there. Lai saw his inspiration in Yueju, the local opera that originated in Shenxian county, close to Hangzhou, a hundred years ago.

"There should be something new, something different, since Secret Love in Peach Blossom Land has been performed for some 24 years," says Lai who collaborated on the play with the Minghuayuan Taiwanese Opera Troupe in 2006.

Two very different plays, the tragedy Secret Love and the comedy, In Peach Blossom Land are both booked to rehearse in the same theater on the same night and face very similar deadlines.

Secret Love is the story of two young lovers separated when the Kuomintang retreat to Taiwan in 1949; In Peach Blossom Land is set in ancient China where a fisherman, Old Tao, jilted by his wife and landlord, sets off and finds himself in the mythical Peach Blossom Land.

Local opera artists perform the comedy In Peach Blossom Land. But when Zhao Zhigang, dubbed "Prince of Yueju", received the invitation to play Old Tao, he was not sure, because, "Yueju is noted for its lyricism and its tunes are sweet and beautiful. This does not fit a comedy, I thought. And singing is dominant in Yueju Opera while the play In Peach Blossom Land is full of funny dialogues"

But Lai finally convinced Zhao to take the role.

"In Peach Blossom Land is actually a tragedy too but presented in a comic way. Yueju's tunes sound very sweet, soft and even a bit 'sour' sometimes, it's good to display kind Old Tao's tragedy."

Lai also mentions that he saw Yueju actress Xie Qunying performing a kind of virago in a traditional play and felt she would fit the role of Old Tao's wife very well.

The Hangzhou Yueju Opera Company gathered several veteran composers to create the score for the Yueju part, which is well integrated into the rhythm of the whole play.

Its premiere in Hangzhou received massive media attention, saw sold-out houses and enthusiastic crowds, drawing both fans of Yueju Opera and modern theater.

It will run at Poly Theater from July 29 to August 1.