Theatre

L’Orphelin 2.0 is devised based on The Orphan of Zhao, one of China’s oldest plays and the first to be translated into a European language. Described as the Chinese Hamlet, it is a luminous reinvention of an ancient legend.

In the story of the orphan of Zhao, Zhao Shuo, the highest general in the Dukedom of Jin was framed up by Tu’an Gu, his political enemy. Tu’an Gu killed Zhao Shuo and all his 300 family members except Zhao’s orphan Zhao Wu, who was hidden and secretly brought up by Zhao Shuo’s loyal retainer Cheng Ying. When Zhao Wu had grown up 20 years later, the Duke rehabilitated his family and allowed Zhao Wu to kill Tu’an Gu to revenge his father’s death.

As with any classic, several versions exist. It first appeared in Zuo Zhuan, the well-known Commentary of Zuo on The Spring and Autumn Annals and then described by the great historian Sima Qian in his Records of the Grand Historian. But is there a ‘true’ version?