‘Do not discuss affairs of state.’
Traverse the turbulent history of early 20th-century China in the first ever English performance of China’s most famous play. Teahouse showcases life in the Yu Tai teahouse in Beijing during the fall of the Qing dynasty, establishment of the Republic, and civil war between the Nationalists and the Communists from 1898 to 1948.
Follow this microcosm of modern China and its two generations of inhabitants as they struggle to survive in a dying Empire rampant with foreign aggression and human trafficking, a Republic devastated by anarchy and factionalism, and a state wracked with civil war, oppression and corruption.
Is hope real, or is it just an illusion crushed repeatedly under the wheels of history? Teahouse showcases Lao She’s brilliant social and cultural commentary through his three-dimensional depiction of the common (and the grotesque), and is an international classic that still remains eerily relevant today.