Fang Xu portrays different roles in his adaptions of Lao She's works.[Photo provided to China Daily]

The stage will be dominated by a huge newspaper, which the director says is a symbol of London in the 1920s. Fang also invited a band to perform live onstage.

"Music serves as a character along with the other actors," he says.

The 50-year-old graduated from the directing department of the Central Academy of Drama. A Beijing native who spent his youth in a courtyard of a populated hutong area, he feels connected to Lao She's stories.

"The characters in his works remind me of my neighbors in the hutong when I was a child. They are so ordinary, vivid and real－fascinating to me," he says.

In 2012, he performed in one of acclaimed director Lin Zhaohua's plays, Five Acts of Life. It was a combination of five short stories by Lao She and depicted both the tragedy and comedy in ordinary people's lives in early 1900s Beijing.

The same year, Fang started his own adaption of Lao She's works. His first attempt, a one-man show version of The Life of Mine, tells the sad story of a low-ranking policeman in Beijing in the early 20th century. It was a big success when it premiered at the theater of the Central Academy of Drama.

Then Fang adapted Lao She's other two novels, Divorce and Cat Country, into plays.

"Fang spent years reading Lao She's works and delving into those characters," says the novelist's 83-year-old daughter, Shu Ji. "I hope he can have his own theater company and venue and keep adapting Lao She's works."

If you go

7:30 pm, Nov 16 and 17. Capital Theater, No 22 Wangfujing Street, Dongcheng district, Beijing. 400-610-3721.

7:15 pm, Dec 2 and 3. Shanghai Oriental Art Center, No 425 Dingxiang Road, Shanghai. 021-6854-1234.