Director Stan Lai in this August 21 photo.

Taiwan playwright and director Stan Lai is challenging his audience with a new version of his box office hit Secret Love in Peach Blossom Land.

The new version -- performed in Mandarin Chinese, or Putonghua, China's standard lingua franca, and Cantonese, a dialect of Chinese -- has been produced to celebrate the centennial anniversary of modern Chinese drama.

Cantonese is spoken in Guangdong Province and Hong Kong as well as in other places in south China, and is usually incomprehensible to people in other parts of China.

One theater critic has proclaimed the "clash" of the Mandarin Chinese and Cantonese in front of a live audience an innovation.

The play brought together a cast of performers from the Chinese mainland, Taiwan and Hong Kong, said its promoter, adding the audience were provided with subtitles to allow them to follow the dialogue.

But the audience were unfazed by the mixture of Mandarin Chinese and Cantonese in the play. "The story means more to me than the language," said one viewer.

"It is just fun to have Putonghua and Cantonese in the same play," said another viewer.

The promoter said the box office was so far "satisfactory", but refused to reveal exact ticket sales.

Running at the Beijing Capital Theater till August 31, the production is also a celebration of the 10th anniversary of Hong Kong's return to China.

Secret Love in Peach Blossom Land was first staged in 1986. It was later made into a movie which won the best adapted screenplay in Taiwan Golden Horse Awards in 1992.

It tells the story of how two plays -- one a bitter love story and the other a classical comedy -- are double-booked at the same theater and the two casts are forced to share the stage. 

Chinese mainland actor Huang Lei holds actress Yuan Quan on the stage of Secret Love in Peach Blossom Land at Beijing's Capital Theatre on Tuesday, August 21, 2007.

Photo taken on August 21, 2007 shows a scene of the drama Secret Love in Peach Blossom Land during its premiere at the Capital Theater in Beijing, capital of China. 

The cast of Secret Love in Peach Blossom Land waves to the audience upon a curtain call at Beijing's Capital Theatre on Tuesday, August 21, 2007.

Stan Lai, director and playwright of the drama Secret Love in Peach Blossom Land speaks ahead of the premiere of the drama at the Capital Theater in Beijing, capital of China, Aug. 21, 2007. The National Theater Company of China, the Hong Kong Repertory Theater and the Taipei-based Performance Workshop jointly would present 11 performances of "the Secret Love in Peach Blossom Land" in Beijing on Aug. 21-31.

Stan Lai (L), director and playwright of the drama Secret Love in Peach Blossom Land presents books to actress Xie Na ahead of the premiere of the drama at the Capital Theater in Beijing, capital of China, Aug. 21, 2007. 

(Xinhua News Agency August 24, 2007)