Scenes from the dark days

Sobol, who was born in Tel Mond, Israel, started his career in theater in 1971 and has directed more than 50 plays. His family left Poland in 1934 to escape the Nazis.

Before Ghetto, Sobol had another award-winning play, Village, staged in China.

French artist Anais Martane, who lives in Beijing and is Jewish, watched Village and met Sobol in Israel several years ago. After she told the director that Chinese audiences enjoyed the play, Sobol showed her the script of Ghetto, which she immediately liked.

"Although it's not a story about China, I wanted Chinese audiences to see the story," Martane says in Beijing.

"I love the play very much. It's about human beings and about hope. It was about facing death and about how to live."

The audience seemed touched during the performance in Beijing.

"My eyes had tears from the beginning," says Lang Xiaoyi, one of the audience members. "Thanks to Ghetto, history is no longer a bunch of cold numbers and places, but seems more like a real-life scenario happening again in front of our eyes."

As the lead actress in the Chinese version of the play, Martane performed several songs, including Springtime.

Her husband, Chinese actor Liu Ye, made his directorial debut by directing the music video for the song, in which their 9-year-old son Noe plays a role.

Liu spent a day shooting the music video at the Capital Theater along with the play's cast of adult and child actors. The video portrays the songs and dances of the prisoners in the theater set against the shadow of soldiers and guns.

"It was the first time that my wife acted onstage," says the actor, who is well-known in China. "I was not sure about her decision to play the lead role but I was convinced when I watched her performance."

He watched the play being staged in Beijing and Nanjing last year.

"She was full of passion for the play and showed no fear when she appeared onstage," says Liu. "She has the gift to express the emotions of every song."

Liu also inspired his son to get involved in the play.

"I encouraged my son to perform in the music video, because I wanted him to learn about history," Liu says. "Just like his mother, he enjoys singing and going to the theater."