Electric agenda puts emotion center stage

The play is divided into three parts, each featuring a key female character from Shakespeare's works: Ophelia, Cleopatra and Lady Macbeth.

Huang noticed these women are in many ways unique but share similar fates.

"We found that, no matter how significant their roles or distinct their personalities, Shakespeare's female characters exist somewhat isolated from the main theme onstage," she says. "They stumble through the plot until the final curtain falls."

The play portrays the challenges and conflicts that arise when machines attempt to simulate the complex workings of human emotions, exploring the intricacies of the human mind.

According to Nie, the various female characters in Shakespeare's works face different challenges leading to their tragic outcomes. Unlike the grand tragedies of ancient Greece that focus on the downfall of the powerful, Shakespeare's characters feel more like real people, prompting contemplation on human nature.

"Our focus is on Shakespeare's female characters set against the backdrop of the artificial intelligence era," the 43-year-old director explains.

"During this time, artificial beings learn rapidly through technology but lack emotion and appear cold. We use extreme human emotions to teach them to feel. What happens when an artificial being, filled with Shakespearean drama and experiencing human emotions, comes to life?"

Huang emphasizes that the play's essence isn't in finding answers but in how people choose to embrace differences.

"It's about treating Shakespeare's text as tangible material and seeing women's emotional journeys as natural processes of change and creation, rather than a flaw in need of correction," she says.

The most significant challenge for the performers in Shakespeare's Garden is grappling with the question, "Who am I?"

The characters in the drama lack names and much of a past, and are identified only by labels like A, B, C, D, or such roles as "woman" or "ghost". Most don't even have complete storylines.

From the very first rehearsal, the six actors have been exploring their characters' identities and pondering the interplay of body and soul. Onstage, they shift between being cold and heartless to outbursts of intense passion. Through these powerful performances, the audience witnesses the struggle between body and soul, revealing the complex realities of lives with or without emotions.

Zhang Yamei, who plays A, remembers facing challenges during rehearsals. She constantly worked on making the somewhat unclear lines understandable and memorizing them until they became second nature, so that she gradually connected with and understood her character.

The stage setting and multimedia presentation reflect Nie's strong personal style.

Theater critic Cui Lei believes Nie has designed the visual elements of the play with simplicity and precision.

"The multimedia visuals expand the theatrical space," Cui explains. "The costumes and props predominantly use white, black and red, creating a futuristic sense of artificial intelligence along with a coldness arising from the disconnection between body and mind."