Writing in Water
Performing Company : Theatre Above
The organizer reserves the right to alter the programme and/or the performers.
Bank Partner: 
The art of joy
Can happiness be taught? Writing in Water is a play conceived by Stan Lai, today’s most international Chinese director and playwright. This dramatic piece tells us of a man returning home following a period studying overseas. Hoping to bring some brightness into the lives of gloomy souls, he starts a “happyology” course, but soon becomes disappointed by his business partner’s thirst for profit. One day, upon receiving news about an inheritance, he embarks on a mysterious journey, taking us along. Inspired on the ideas of French writer and Buddhist monk Matthieu Ricard, author of The Book of Happiness, the play premiered in the aftermath of 2008’s devastating financial crisis.
Stan Lai’s happy return to CCM follows two previous successful tours when he brought the sweet Secret Love in Peach Blossom Land and the epic The Village. After a few postponements caused by pandemic constraints, Writing in Water will finally reach our shores by the hand of Shanghai’s Theatre Above. Fuelled by a positive, inspirational vibe, this play encourages the audience, revealing that happiness is within reach, perhaps even closer than we might think.
Pre-performance talk