Tuesdays with Morrie
- Source: Global Times
- [09:17 November 12 2010]
- Comments
A scene from the play Tuesdays with Morrie.
By Jiang Yuxia
Two actors on stage, speaking in everyday language in a simple setting: Internationally renowned work Tuesdays with Morrie is playing in Beijing tonight until Sunday, presented by Hong Kong Chung Ying Theater Company.
Adapted from the New York Times bestseller non-fiction work by American writer and sports journalist Mitch Albom, the play, in Cantonese with English and Putonghua subtitles, follows the author's rekindling of his relationship between his favorite college teacher. Twenty years after graduation, Albom finds out that his teacher is dying, he visits Morrie every Tuesday and they discuss love, money, self-created values, acceptance and death.
"The message of the play is talking about the harmony of life," Chung Ying's artistic director Ko Tin Lung told the Global Times.
The lessons Morrie teaches Albom are lessons in life and how to live, Ko explained. "Morrie is teaching Mitch how to face death, how to face old age, how to face if you are losing a family member, your attitude towards life The whole message is about having a more optimistic attitude towards life."
The play received critical acclaim when it was first staged in Hong Kong in 2005 and has had five re-runs, receiving three major awards at the 17th Hong Kong Drama Awards, including the Ten Most Popular Productions.
"Many people have problems similar to that of Albom, but people seldom have a professor on his side to help him understand. Through this play people will be touched with the thinking 'I'm also having this problem, what can Morrie teach me?'" Ko explained.
"It is so real that it touches a universal message. Everyone would face such problems," Ko added, himself a playwright and actor who has received numerous awards including Hong Kong Artists' Guild's Stage Director of the Year in 1991.
"What I like about Morrie most is that he is a guy with wisdom," commented Chung King Fai, who has been playing Morrie since the company debuted the work. "He is an optimistic person, knowing how to face life, how to face all the problems in life he has been through during his past years through his experience and he learns how to live."
