The Daughter of a Rich and Wealthy Family, an adaptation of The Merchant of Venice by Shakespeare, began intensive rehearsal on January 11. The premiere of this play is scheduled for February 14 as part of the celebrations for the 2007 Lunar New Year.

Guangdong Opera has a long-standing tradition of adapting the world's most famous plays. As early as the 1930s, the late eminent performing artists of Guangdong Opera, adapted The Merchant of Venice into A Pound of Flesh. During the 1950s, an adaptation of The Merchant of Venice was performed. During the 1980s, the leading Guangdong Opera actress Hong Xian Nu adapted The Merchant of Venice into The Beloved Daughter of Heaven.

The Daughter of a Rich and Wealthy Family, a new adaptation of The Daughter of a Rich and Wealthy Family, is set in Macao and another southern Chinese city in the late Qing Dynasty and early Republic of China period.

At a brief ceremony marking the commencement of the rehearsal of The Daughter of a Rich and Wealthy Family, renowned director Chen Xinyi said that she plans to copy Shakespeare's original lines into the adaptation. She hopes that actors will be able to present Shakespeare's humanistic spirits and values in reciting the lines in Cantonese. Ms. Chen said that the retention of the original lines is intended to demonstrate the compatibility between Guangdong Opera and Shakespeare's plays. She also revealed that Mozart's music had selected to accompany certain lines, with good results achieved in previous rehearsals.

Ni Huiying, head of Guangzhou Guangdong Opera Troupe, will play Lin Xiya, the leading character, in The Daughter of a Rich and Wealthy Family. She played Portia in The Beloved Daughter of Heaven in 1985, dressed in Western costumes. More than 20 years on, The Merchant of Venice is completely localized, and the name of the leading character is changed to Lin Xiya.

Editor: Donald