I met Leilei in Beijing in 2013. At the time, we were planning to create a play together, adapted from Molière: Absolutely Precious. (A few years later, she brought the production to Shenzhen.) Then, in 2015, I met her husband, Zhao Yong, and attended their wedding.
Yijie and Luoluo were participants in the Revisiting the Classics directing and acting workshop I led for Houlang Publishing at the end of 2019. After the workshop, they told me on several occasions that they wanted to continue taking part in theatre workshops. So, in September, they came to Shenzhen to join me.
I met Nandao, Xue Yang and Zhou He in June 2020, during a Living Theatre workshop organised by Leilei. From June to September, both in person and online, we kept trying to find the time and space to continue the workshop, to explore what theatre really is.
This is how Sunny was born. Sunny is them: Cao Leilei, Zhao Yong, Nandao, Xue Yang, Zhou He, Yijie and Luoluo.
Sunny also marks the first time since January 2020 that I returned to the theatre as a director — for the first time (once again).
In mid-January 2020, I was at the Shanghai Dramatic Arts Centre, auditioning actors with the producer. We were preparing a new production that was due to begin rehearsals immediately after the Chinese New Year. During those days, I stayed in a small apartment inside the theatre itself, close to the actors’ dressing rooms, close to the stage. In my room, I could smell that familiar scent found only in theatres: the mixture of wooden prop crates and lighting gels warmed by the heat of the lamps. I could also hear the actors warming up, exercising their voices, chatting before a performance. It was wonderful.
On the day I left the theatre and said goodbye to the producer, I had no idea that I would have to wait so long before returning.
During those months away from the theatre, for a long time — especially during the worst period of the pandemic — I kept asking myself these questions: Does theatre really matter? Why do I want to enter a theatre? What do I really want to say there? And how do I want to say it?
When Leilei invited me to Shenzhen to lead a workshop, I brought these questions into the rehearsal room with me. Together with the participants, we searched for what theatre might bring to life, to society. Yes, we searched together.
I am grateful to these wonderful people for accompanying me through those months away from the theatre.
Sunny was born out of this mutual companionship, out of this search.
Sunny is the small part of an answer that we, together, found in our search, here and now.
In Sunny, everything is real: the people, the stories, the images, the sounds…
Sunny is memory, a song, a hope we want to share with everyone.
I dedicate this performance to you, who are entering the theatre, and to the wonderful people who have accompanied you through these past few months.
Sifan Shao
Shenzhen, 7 October 2020