"The Chinese performers are young but quick learners. There are different types of performers in the world but they are very similar. For example, some are good at voices and some have a sense of humor," he says.

The coproduction is one of the six plays of the China-UK Literary Theater Exchange event. The three British plays are Ulysses, A Journey Around James Joyce and Becket in Brief. The three Chinese plays are Imperial Express, Waiting for Ancestors and The Seven Sages. All are performed by Chinese.

Written and directed by Arnold, A Journey Around James Joyce tells the story of Joyce and his wife, Nora Barnacle. Becket in Brief is about the life of Joyce's close friend Samuel Barclay Beckett, an Irish novelist and playwright, who wrote the absurdist play Waiting for Godot.

"I want to emphasize the literariness of theater and regain theater literature's rightful position, by introducing these fantastic works," says Yi, who has bigger plans for the future.

He says Imperial Express is set in the background when the Eight-Nation Alliance invaded and occupied Beijing in 1900. After the cooperation with the United Kingdom this time, maybe he can work with directors from the seven other countries, such as Germany and the United States, each year, to see what influences will be brought to the development of Chinese drama.

IF YOU GO

ULYSSES

7:30 pm, March 27, 28. Shengli Theater, 279 Yan'an Road, Shangcheng district, Hangzhou, Zhejiang province.

7:30 pm, March 31-April 1. Shanghai Dramatic Arts Center, 188 Anfu Road, Xuhui district, Shanghai.

7:30 pm, April 4-6. National Center for the Performing Arts, 2 West Chang'an Street, Xicheng district, Beijing.

7:30 pm, April 10-11. Youth Theater, 146 North Zhongshan Road, Gulou district, Nanjing.