Since The Odd Couple premiered on Broadway in 1965, Neil Simon's comedy was staged over 600 times, with adaptations and spin-offs around the globe. China's Hebei Theater Company, about to celebrate its 60th anniversary, will now stage this classic, the first authorized adaptation in China.

The ensemble is composed of eight expat actors and actresses, a mix of professionals and amateurs, who will speak Putonghua during the performance. Led by renowned director Gu Wei of Beijing People's Art Theatre, the Chinese rendition of The Odd Couple will premiere at the National Centre for the Performing Arts on Wednesday and Thursday.

The plot centers on two poker buddies, Felix Ungar and Oscar Madison. Ungar, kicked out by his wife, moves in with Madison, also divorced. A neat freak, Ungar's behavior clashes with Madison and their mutual friends. The characters in The Odd Couple all battle a variety of marital problems.

Li Tihua, the producer of the play, thinks the theme will resonate with contemporary Chinese audiences. 

"Marital issues are what people in China face today," said Li.

She added that though the story touches on serious problems, comical elements make the overall mood of the play heartwarming and light.

Li said that she is confident The Odd Couple will be well received by domestic audience, as the play has done well internationally.

To promote the show, a short clip was screened during the Beijing International Performing Arts Fair.  

Cultural differences

Li told the Global Times that The Odd Couple's script was translated into Chinese by Wu Zhuhong, translator of plays including Plaza Suit and Everything in the Garden.

A number of lines and scenes were cut by director Gu.

"Some parts had too many Western references. Some lines were jokes that only made sense in English. Some parts were repetitious, so I cut them in advance," Gu said, adding that he gained experience after directing another work of Simon's, Plaza Suit.

The tweaked version is about two hours long, an hour shorter than the original play. This is a suitable length for Chinese audience, Gu said.

For Gu, the most difficult part about working with a group of foreign performers for the first time was communicating effectively.

"I had an assistant who used English, though I found the most effective way was to [demonstrate] myself," Gu said in an interview last week.

The eight actors and actresses hail from seven different countries including the US, Canada, Russia and France. All had acting experience, but few had experience performing in stage plays.

"It is different acting in TV and movies than on stage," said George Anton, who plays Speed in Gu's adaptation of The Odd Couple.

When acting in a TV series or movie, the storyline is not as strict. But a staged production is more demanding, and mistakes must be discreet, said Anton.

"You have to remember all the lines in a play; TV series or movies do not have this demand," Gu added.

Trial run

Cultural clashes between China and the West made the production process difficult at times.

"Getting used to different acting styles was one of the difficulties," said French actor Pierre Bourdaud, who plays the character Vinnie in Gu's production.

However, recruiting a group of foreigners was a spontaneous idea.

"I thought, why not invite foreign performers? There are many expats living in Beijing, and many can speak Chinese," Li said. "It's a Western play, and I think Westerners can perform the characters with ease."

But the audition process was not easy. "In the beginning we thought about recruiting foreign students at colleges," said director Gu.

"But often, experienced performers are at the beginning stages of learning Chinese, and those who speak good Chinese might not perform well."

It took the group about two months to narrow it down to the final eight.

"We learned a lesson in the process. We overemphasized speaking skills the first time," Gu told the Global Times.

"Sometimes an expat speaks great Putonghua but does not read well. But in this type of performance, you need to read the script."

Having worked on stage productions for more than 40 years, Gu said that as far as he knows, there isn't another play where the foreign performers speak Putonghua.

"Audiences may come at first mainly to see foreigners perform in Chinese, but later I think there will be followers of the performance itself."

In the future, Gu said foreigners performing in Putonghua will be as common as Chinese performing in English.

With more foreigners learning Chinese, they would like to have a stage to showcase their skills, Gu said.

"At first, I had doubts about having foreigners performing in Putonghua ... then I thought about how dubbed movies are successful, regardless. Having a [foreign] cast perform the American story of The Odd Couple in Chinese might actually be the most genuine experience for the Beijing audience," Anton said.