A new generation enters the storm

For the past 15 years, actor Yang Lixin has lived with one of Chinese theater's most formidable characters: Zhou Puyuan, the wealthy industrialist and stern patriarch at the center of Thunderstorm, Chinese playwright Cao Yu's landmark modern drama.

This summer, however, the 69-year-old actor returns to the play not as its leading actor but as its director, entrusted with guiding a new generation of performers in one of the Beijing People's Art Theatre's most treasured productions.

"It's never possible to prepare enough for this play," Yang says as the theater unveils its latest revival of Thunderstorm, which will open at the Capital Theatre on Aug 5 with shows running until Aug 21.

For Yang, the assignment is both deeply personal and artistically significant. Over decades, he has worked alongside nearly every generation of actors who helped define the theater's interpretation of Thunderstorm. Now, he finds himself passing that tradition forward.

His mission echoes the words of playwright Cao Yu himself. In his 1979 book, Cao Yu on Thunderstorm, the dramatist wrote: "A script is a living thing. As long as it continues to be performed and retains its vitality, it can continue to be re-created."

Often regarded as the father of modern Chinese drama, Cao Yu became director of the Beijing People's Art Theatre when it was founded in 1952. Two years later, the company premiered Thunderstorm under the direction of Xia Chun and Cao Yu's supervision, establishing what would become one of the theater's defining productions.

Written in 1934 when Cao Yu was just 24, Thunderstorm remains one of the most influential works in modern Chinese drama. Set over a single day in 1925, the play unfolds inside the home of the wealthy Zhou family, where long-buried secrets, forbidden love and class conflict erupt into devastating tragedy. Its psychological depth, explosive dramatic structure and sharp social critique have captivated audiences for generations.