Scripts of creativity

Rychner also showed a great interest in the team's opinions on having children, team members' personal experiences, and China's relevant policies.

Chen says the works she chooses to stage are always related to the social issues she is interested in. The play is based on the writer's individual experience and the issues discussed in it are relevant to Chinese society.

The play-reading festival started in 2018 as a platform for scriptwriters and theater practitioners, aimed at building an environment where young talent can generate and exchange ideas.

This year, the festival was hosted at the U2 by UCCA from Aug 12 to 14, with support from the Swiss Arts Council Pro Helvetia and One-Way Street, a Chinese literary periodical.

Four representative contemporary plays from Switzerland were presented during the festival, covering the themes of life and death, feminist utopia, childbearing and aging.

While focusing on the script, Sound and Fury's productions strive for the integrity of live performances.

Instead of merely listening to the script being read, the audience can watch the director's rendition and get a feel for a complete production via the performances.

"Our performances are very close to a full-scale theater production. They are demos, concentrating more on the ideas rather than the production. The purpose is cultural exchange, to introduce the latest international theater scripts to the Chinese audience in an efficient way," Chen says.