Imagining the untold story of Zhao Zhuangji through a modern lens

Herstory in History does not attempt to retell The Orphan of Zhao in full or reconstruct Zhao Zhuangji's life as a historical biography, the production team says.

Instead, the creative team takes the gaps around the character as a starting point: what choices might she have faced, and what might be missed when a person is remembered mainly through a few familiar identities?

Zhu says the two women's lives are not meant to be directly compared. The connection lies instead in the experience of taking on identities shaped partly by circumstances and partly by the expectations of others.

Co-director and co-writer Zhang Keyuan says the production is not simply a new version of an old Chinese story, but an attempt to look more closely at the person behind a familiar character.

The same idea of moving between different worlds also shapes the music.

German composer Johannes Grosz says his writing is rooted mainly in Western musical traditions. For the production, he worked with the Chinese team to bring traditional Chinese instruments and musical ideas into a chamber score.

One passage uses vocal phrasing inspired by China's Kunqu Opera, while Zhu also consulted performers trained in traditional Chinese opera on singing, costume and movement.

"There is no question of which one is better," Zhu says of the two musical traditions. "If you can bring them together well, it can become something very interesting."

The production is performed in Chinese with English captions. "If it comes from Chinese tradition, why must I use another language to tell it?" Zhu says.

For her, the production is one small attempt to bring Chinese stories and creative approaches into more direct exchange with audiences and theater-makers overseas.

XINHUA