Success flowing like water

Writing in Water, a play directed by Stan Lai, starring He Jiong and Huang Yici, is staged at Tianqiao Performing Arts Center in Beijing on Oct 23. The story of the play took inspiration from Lai's experiences, along with those of his wife, Ismene Ting, who is also a playwright and stage director, when translating the book, Happiness: A Guide to Developing Life's Most Important Skill, written by French writer and Buddhist monk Matthieu Ricard. "I worried if the audience could enjoy the new art form of digitalizing a theatrical production, but during the screening, my attention was undivided and I think that it's an achievement," Lai says. Lai's wife, Ting, recalls that one of the most challenging parts of making this happen－broadcasting the play on screens in cinemas－was to convince Lai, as he "loves and respects theater so much".