A fresh version of little theater play "Hamlet" is currently on stage at the Beijing People's Art Theater, a must-visit venue for theater lovers, with several young Chinese actors presenting their unique interpretation of the classic tragedy written by William Shakespeare.

With the intriguing creations of the new generation of Chinese performers, the adaptation created in Beijing seems to be a modern fusion.
Hamlet in their script is no longer a distant prince with a determination for revenge, but a young man who is trying to find himself a way out with bold spirit.
Shakespeare was a master of "play-within-a-play", and the young actors also utilized this artistic expression in the show, setting up a special segment that allowed the audience to become "actors", giving them a surprisingly special experience.
"Our 'Hamlet' is very unique. We are performing in a little theater when 'Hamlet' should have been a large production featuring many performers. Instead of the normal 30-plus performers, our cast consists of just four. We therefore crafted it using a great deal of our own understanding and choreography," said Wei Jiacheng, an actor at the theater.
The play was actually a work that several young performers from the theater had created for their annual assessment, which moved the examiners so much that they decided to support its development into a true theater production.
"The Beijing People's Art Theater has reached a special time of transition between the old and the new, and it's a time with sense of crisis, and both the audience and our actors can feel it. During this year and next year, more than 20 of our theater's front-line staff, including actors and choreographers, will retire. This is a time of both opportunity and challenge for young actors. Their works will not be mature enough, for sure, but I think they must be full of passion, and they must be able to show the audience that our future is something they can look forward to," said Feng Yuanzheng, president of the theater.