Wang Xuebing will play the lead role.

"By reading Shi's works, I recalled my own life, especially my relationship with my mother," Lupa says.

"Like Shi, I had my own 'Temple of Earth' when I was young. It's a place where I could hide from the outside world.

"My mother was a teacher. Like Shi's mother, she cared about me. I was a 'weird' kid and was dreamer. But my mother understood me."

The director also shot lots of videos in Beijing and Tianjin, which will be broadcast on the stage's backdrop.

He also added a character to the play, a female journalist from a Western country, who, like Lupa, from an outside world, tries to explore the inner world of drunken Mo Fei.

"It was quite a challenge to work on this play. But that's what I like. I would have also liked to have had a conversation with the writer, rather than relying solely on the script," says Lupa.

Speaking about his role, Wang, who is known for his role in Lin's play Enemy of the People, says: "Compared with other Chinese stage productions, this play is unique. We had three months, on and off, working together in the rehearsal room, which was an exhausting and thrilling process.

"None of us in the production team are alcoholics, so playing a drunkard is about imagination. But what makes the role convincing is not just physical movements, such as stumbling around, but the drunken man's logic. The way he talks and thinks is very different from how one acts when one is sober."

Wang had not worked with Lupa before. He says that he was apprehensive when he accepted the role.

"We spent a lot of time doing improvisation, and, even now, I still have no idea what I will be like in the play. I feel like a new actor," the 46-year-old says.

If you go

7:30 pm, June 24 and 25. Tianjin Grand Theater, 58 Pingjiangdao, Hexi district, Tianjin. 400-056-7790.