Most parents want their children to grow up to be somebody such as a great musician, an established scientist or a celebrity. But few are willing to obey their parents. What kind of person is somebody? Parents and children have different understandings.

A new play produced by Beijing Children's Art Theatre explores the topic from a boy's point of view.

The production entitled Hi, Ke'ai will premiere at the Century Theatre on Friday, the first day of Beijing children's winter vacation, and run till January 31.

Ke'ai, meaning cute or lovely in Chinese, is the name of a little boy who suffers from growing pains.

His parents dream that one day he could be Mozart, Picasso or Newton. They often force him to do things he does not like such as playing the piano and painting.

After seeing Liu Xiang win the gold medal of the 110-metre hurdles at the Athens Olympic Games, they send Ke'ai to receive training in hurdles racing.

His parents are ready to be parents of a hero. However, the boy is not ready to become a hero, yet.

"Why do they wish me to be somebody else? Am I not lovely, if I am just a normal boy?" Ke'ai questions and declares: "I only want to be myself."

Commissioned by the Beijing Children's Art Theatre, Zou Jingzhi, a well-known poet and veteran playwright for TV serial, opera and drama, created the story in a month.

"I love children and children love me, too. It has been my long-term plan to write a story for them. I had planned to write fairy tales when I got older and now thanks to the commission, I realized my wish earlier," said Zou.

The 52-year-old playwright said he enjoyed watching cartoons adapted from Chinese works featuring the Monkey King, and Japanese animation movies and books. To create the story, he bought many videos of the latest popular cartoons.

"I know the traditional form such as an adventure does not appeal to today's kids any more. I wanted to write something new and full of imagination.

"I want to tell the story in a child's tone or see the world through a child's eyes, instead of teaching them something from the position of an educator. when they hear they want to tell their parents and the teachers, they will love the story."

Zou has designed his plot so that Ke'ai and his father change identities with each other. Father carries Ke'ai's school bag to school while Ke'ai carries his father's suitcase to the office. Standing in each other's shoes, father and son understand each other.

"The play indicates the importance of communication and understanding between parents and kids in a light way. We parents should think over how to guide kids instead of simply forcing them to do this or that," says Zhao Chen, a 40-year-old mother who was invited to watch the rehearsal early this month.

For director Ren Ming, vice-president of the prestigious Beijing People's Art Theatre, the first attempt to stage a play for children is a challenge.

"I am suffering as well as enjoying it when I am working on the play with the cast, most of whom are students and undergraduates of the Central Academy of Drama and the Beijing Academy of Dance," said the director.

"I have racked my brain to think how to attract the kids so that they will sit down at the theatre for 90 minutes and share our story. They have incredible imaginations, their thoughts and ideas are hard to control," he said.

He and Zou together created the figure of Ke'ai, a little boy in a colorful T-shirt and shorts and always wearing a baseball hat with the peak at back.

He looks just the same as any boy next door in life. He is not quick-thinking and speaks very slowly but is often more sharp-witted than an adult.

"We did not set down a model boy who is charming, hard-working and has good academic scores. But he is lovely and his declaration to be himself is brave and wise," director Ren explains.

The title role Ke'ai is performed by Han Qing, a young woman who hosts a children's program on Beijing TV and graduated from the Central Academy of Drama in 2003.

It is hard for a woman to act as a little boy, but Han does a good job. She is short, cute and knows well the mind of a kid thanks to her experience as anchorwoman of the children's TV channel.

Shen Ao designs simple but imaginative settings for the play.

One impressive background is the cross section of Ke'ai's house, which is a huge coat-hanger with a white towel. The coat-hanger is the roof of the house while the white towel is the wall. The towel also has a second use. It could be a screen to be projected on.

"I use bright pure colors and simple figures such as animals, sun, cloud, flowers. These I think fit children," said Shen.

Apart from the story, young audience members are expected to love the break dancing, R&B music and other strange imaginative forms. Some interesting choreography includes the dance imitating Liu Xiang's hurdle-racing and the dance of Ke'ai's pet cat.

Popular Taiwan singer Qi Qin wrote two songs for the play. The theme song "I Want to Be Myself" is sung by Qi himself as Ke'ai's monologue at the end of Act One sounds touching and melodic.

The other one "Ke'ai's Song" will be sung by the cast in every act. Director Ren said that the melody of "Ke'ai's Song" is simple to learn. He believes that the audience will be able to follow the cast easily and even sing the song on their way home after the play.

"I watched their rehearsals in early December and I was deeply touched when I heard Ke'ai say that he wants to be himself," said Qi. "It reminded me of my own boyhood when my father asked me to do things I did not like."

He also revealed that he had written three songs before seeing the rehearsals but withdrew one and revised the other two.

(China Daily January 18, 2005)