Master Lin's version of "Orphan" is an epic of great power and has been widely acclaimed as a masterpiece of realistic drama. It has a well-knit plot and all the scenes are organized like a film shoot.

This is not Lin's first version of the story. About 10 years ago he directed a production for the Tianjin People's Art Theatre.The current version is the result of a decade of hard work and contemplation. Lin himself said he worked harder on this play than any other he has directed.

"Though the second run has improved from the premiere in April, I am still thinking of the acting style," he said, "Realistic is not a fixed type; it consists of many styles. I am still exploring new styles."

Before the second run Lin hosted a workshop to discuss the acting and train the performers to act in a style radically different from their usual one.

Neither revenge nor justice is the main theme of Lin's version, which breaks away from the usual conflict between good and evil. Instead, it displays three sides of conflict: palace coup, personal resentment and personal fate.

"The history is pretty complicated, so we should not simply guide the audience to say yes or no. We just present the facts and leave it to viewers to think over," dramatist and literature consultant Mou Sen said of Lin's version.

Lin's understanding of the orphan is as follows: It's unfair to bring the heavy burden of family revenge on the shoulder of the boy. It's difficult to make a decision to kill Tu'an Gu, who kills his father but has brought him up. So he announces in the end "It has nothing to do with me."

Lin's cast is star-studded. It lives up to the audience's expectation and ensures box-office success by having most the backbone performers of the Beijing People's Art Theatre, including Pu Cunxin as Tu'an Gu, He Bing as Cheng and Xu Fan as the queen mother.

Compared to the performers' striking body language in Tian's version, Lin's actors control every movement to express their inner world. And they speak their lines in a rhythm faster than the usual style of the theatre's production.

Fascinated with traditional Chinese opera, Lin endows a sense of that style into the play, from the resplendent costuming to the performers' acting.

Yi Liming designed a huge hard rock wall on the back stage and the ground made by 50,000 red bricks, both of which suggest the desolate and heavy atmosphere of the play.

Three real horses running on the stage and the heavy rain pouring down from the roof in the last scene add more power to the historic story.

The pouring rain washes the revenge, the meaning of living and people's understanding of justice, trust, love and hostility.

(China Daily November 20, 2003)