International Cast Featured in 'Normandie Apartments'

The new play "Normandie Apartments," adapted from writer Gao Yuan's 2024 novel of the same name, will debut at Shanghai Dramatic Arts Center on December 21.

The story is set in Normandie Apartments (now known as the Wukang Building). Centering on a mysterious incident that took place in the French Concession of Shanghai in the 1930s-40s, it portrays the joys and sorrows, reunions and partings of residents from various countries who lived in the building during wartime, while also offering a retrospective look at Shanghai's history during World War II.

International Cast Featured in 'Normandie Apartments'

In the 1930s, Normandie Apartments exclusively housed foreigners, while the Chinese people in the building were mostly their attendants, cooks, servants, or drivers.

The story follows the daughter of a French chef living in the apartments, who frequently encounters strange occurrences in the building. She turns to Zhou Ding, the building caretaker's son, for help, thus unraveling this suspenseful tale.

Given the presence of multiple foreign characters in the play, the open casting call by the production team has attracted enthusiastic applications from foreign actors based in Shanghai, hailing from countries such as the UK, Germany, Canada and Russia. Some of them will join accomplished Chinese performers like Du Guangyi in delivering the debut round of performances.

Credit: Ti Gong

Caption: International actors are in a rehearsal.

The Normandie Apartments, once considered "one of the safest places" in Shanghai in the 1930s, saw its residents from France, Britain, and Germany forced to plan for the future of their families under the threat of artillery fire.

"Our generation grew up in peacetime and may feel distant from the realities of war," said director He Nian. "The motivation behind creating this play is simple: to neither glorify history nor sensationalize suffering, but to restage the situations and choices of ordinary people from that era in the theater."