Beijing People's Art Theatre is restaging Antiques, an August hit in the capital. With its Beijing flavor, the play reproduces scenes from the Beijing of 70 years ago.

Revolving around anecdotes of an antique shop in Liulichang, one of the capital's most famous shopping streets with a 200-year-old history, the drama brings on stage a group of characters with a variety of occupations. A quadripot, an ancient Chinese cooking vessel, creates a mystery.

The story is laden with riddles, ironies and dramatic moments involving corruption and bribery. It reaches its climax when one of the protagonists chooses to burn himself with the quadripot to prevent the precious antique from falling into the hands of the enemy during the War of Resistance Against the Japanese(1937-45).

Antiques is written by Zheng Tianwei, an actress who emerged in recent years as a promising playwright. Co-directed by Lin Zhaohua and his student Ren Ming. The strong cast encompasses such famous actors as Pu Cunxin, Liang Guanhua, Tan Zongyao,etc..

Antiques runs at 7pm, January 22, 24-26, at the capital Theatre, 22 Wangfujing Dajie, Dongcheng District. For tickets call 010-65250996. --By Wang Ling
China Correspondent