A Midsummer Night's DREAMING Under the Southern Bough made a splash in Beijing Tuesday. Students from the  University of Leeds performed a contemporary adaptation based on the Chinese ancient play Nanke Ji. [Photo by Zhu Xingxin/ China Daily]

"We are not singing that much (as the original opera) and we speak in English in the contemporary version," said George Clifford, who plays the male protagonist Chun Yu in the Southern Bough story. "I think one of the biggest changes is to get across time and literary excellence in the English format without trying to sound like Shakespeare."

Milly Stell, a student from the University of Leeds who plays the female protagonist, said the humanity lying behind the ancient opera was universal.

"I feel like the emotions even back then in the ancient original (opera) are still really understandable to us now. Everything that happens on stage is completely relatable to everyone who is watching," Stell said.