That is why they have decided to produce one themselves, instead of importing companies and plays from abroad.

"WWW.COM" is the first attempt by the Shanghai Dramatic Arts Center to produce an English version of a Chinese play.

The play, by Yu Rongjun, won the National Dramatic Cao Yu Award. The Dramatic Arts Center performed the Chinese version last year and won high praise not only in Shanghai but in Beijing and other parts of the country.

The Hong Kong Drama Company is also preparing to present a Cantonese version of the play. Theatres abroad also showed great interest in the play, wishing to present the Japanese and English versions.

"It presents contemporary Chinese art to the world," said Zhu Dakun, producer of the play. "Foreigners often ask: 'China has great cultural tradition, but what is Chinese art like now?"'

This play, depicting the life of Chinese urban dwellers in the Internet age, hopes to give people in other countries a window onto modern China.

A young couple, bored by ordinary married life, meet only once a week. The man chats on the Internet with a mistress as he doesn't want to lose his family. The wife meets a man in cyberworld, who turns up at her door, leaving behind his life in America. When the couple meet again on the web, they find that communication failed in the real life.

The director, David Jiang, specially invited from Hong Kong, was also the director of "An Ordinary Day", a successful play staged at the Dramatic Arts Center last year.

To produce a new effect, differing from that of the Chinese version of "WWW.COM", Jiang adopted a completely new stage design, putting actors in the center, surrounded by the audience. Abstract-shaped blocks are used to change stage effects in front of the audience.

Jiang expects that 70 percent of the audience will be Chinese, as at last year's "An Ordinary Day".

The English version of "An Ordinary Day" starred an American actress, Charlotte MacInnis. But "WWW.COM" will use all Chinese actors. One of the main characters will be played by Tamara Guo, an Australian-Chinese with some Russian blood.

A TV host and hostess will take another two roles, leaving the last of the more important roles to an actor from the dramatic arts center.

The new crew was assembled because it was difficult to find English-competent actors at the Dramatic Arts Center.

A language tutor has been invited to work with the actors and further polish the translated play. Some of the jokes in the original play have had to be altered in the English version, which was matter of great regret to the dramatist, Yu.

7:15pm, January 16-26

Dramatic Arts Center

288 Anfu Lu

Tel: 6473-0123, 6473-4567

80 yuan

(Shanghai Star January 6, 2003)