Chinese acting couple Hu Jun and Lu Fang return to Esplanade for modern take on playwright Cao Yu's classic family drama

Chinese acting couple Hu Jun and Lu Fang return to Esplanade for modern take on playwright Cao Yu's classic family drama

- Shawn Hoo

When acclaimed Chinese actors Hu Jun and Lu Fang were last in Singapore in 2019, they played tragic lovers Hamlet and Ophelia.

In 2025, they return again, as lovers of a different sort in Chinese playwright Cao Yu's tempestuous family drama Thunderstorm.

"We have an unparalleled chemistry - and we don't have to say much to each other in order to understand each other," says the Beijing-based Hu, 56, who has been married to Lu, 50, for more than 25 years.

In this modern remake of the 1933 play by the playwright considered the father of modern Chinese drama, Hu plays the corrupt patriarch Zhou Puyuan while Lu plays his second wife, Fanyi, who is embroiled in a secret affair with her stepson.

A landmark in Chinese drama, Thunderstorm explores the Zhou family's descent into self-destruction over its three hours.

Directed by acclaimed Chinese theatre director Li Liuyi - who also directed Hamlet - Thunderstorm plays at the Esplanade Theatre from March 28 to 30.

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