The Peony Pavilion

Written By Tang Xianzu, Translated by Huang Bikang, Produced by The Shakespeare Institute Players

  • The Peony Pavilion is a Chinese Opera written by the respected Tang Xianzu. It is one of his famous “Four Dreams” and is performed regularly in China.

  • Liberty O’Dell, the titular Boss of Boards, was honored to be cast in the world premier of the Peony Pavilion. Since the project doesn’t have it’s own dedicated website he has volunteered to host it here.

  • Director- Emily C. A. Snyder

    Producer- Michael Dobson

    Du Liniang- Yueqi Wu

    Liu Mengmei- Saul Sherrard

    Chunxiang, Flower Fairy, and the Demon Assistant- Kirsty Farrow

    Du Bao, Chun Zuiliong, and Judge Hu- Liberty O’Dell

News Coverage

October 15th, 2025

University of Birmingham

October 26th, 2025

Fuzhou Tourism

October 26th, 2025

China Minutes, Sha Liu

October 26th, 2025

Fuzhou Daily

October 26th, 2025

Fuzhou Daily

October 26th, 2025

Youth lead a new dialogue between civilizations

Global Times, Xu Liuliu

October 29th, 2025

PKU News

Yenching Academy, Peking University

October 29th, 2025

October 29th, 2025

Dijiang News, Zhong Jianqiao

October 30th, 2025

Xinhua News Agency

October 31st, 2025

China Daily Website

Peking University School of Foreign Languages

October 31st, 2025

University of Birmgingham; Michael Dobson

November 4th, 2025

November 25th, 2025

University of Beijing

People’s Daily (China), Yang Yanfei,

November 25th, 2025

December 2nd, 2025

Xinhua News

Meet Jianxi-

In 2025, coinciding with the 475th anniversary of Tang Xianzu's birth, a cross-border “Dialogue of Dreams” took place in his hometown of Fuzhou, Jiangxi province. The Peony Pavilion was reimagined in the style of Shakespeare, and the Nanke Ji opera intertwined with A Midsummer Night's Dream. In this exchange, the aesthetics of East and West resonated with one another.

Media Coverage

Artificial Intelligence Imagines a meeting between Shakespeare and Tang Xianzu.

Credit: People's Daily Online Jiangxi Channel, Yang Yanfei, November 26th, 2025

A common practice at the Tang Xianzu Cultural month, this video imagines the two ancient playwrights in a conversation they might have today.

When "Du Liniang" meets "Juliet"

Credit: People's Daily Online Jiangxi Channel, Yang Yanfei, November 26th, 2025

Another imagined interaction, this time between the two fictitious female ingenues; Du Lingiang and Juliet.