Stage set for new Odyssey

Two German playhouse masterpieces are being performed in Beijing and Shanghai.

Following its successful premiere in China in 2016, Theatertreffen in China has returned to the country every year since.

This summer, two German theater productions are being staged in Beijing and Shanghai through July 14: Thalia Theatre's Die Odyssee (The Odyssey), a performance of Homer's epic historical masterpiece, and Trommeln in der Nacht (Drums in the Night) by Munchner Kammerspiele.

The program is jointly presented by Berliner Theatertreffen, one of the most important cultural forces in German-speaking countries, Goethe-Institut China, the prominent German cultural organization and Wu Promotion, a private Chinese events-promotion agency for the performing arts.

Having been premiered in Hamburg in 2017, the production by the city's Thalia Theater is a contemporary reinterpretation of one of the most extraordinary figures from Greek mythology, Odysseus.

The director Antu Romero Nunes brings Homer's classic character to the stage with performances by actors Thomas Niehaus and Paul Schroder. It tells the story of two half-brothers, who return from the battlefield 20 years after their father left his family and the country.