Writer: Cao Zhen

Hong Kong stage queen Perry Chiu will return to Shenzhen on April 28-29 with her Cantonese play “The Golden Cangue,” adapted from legendary Shanghai writer Eileen Chang’s 1950 novella of the same name.

Directed by Hong Kong award-winning movie director Ann Hui and written by prolific mainland writer Wang Anyi, the play centers on a woman who marries for money but finds herself wedded to the bedridden son of a wealthy family in the early 1900s. Lonely, she becomes attracted to her husband’s handsome brother. Caught in the frustration of her situation, she then embarks on a path of decadent self-destruction with an opium addiction and the obsessive ruination of her children. The “cangue” of the title is a metaphorical allusion to the inescapable situation in which the character finds herself.

Chiu staged the drama in Shenzhen in 2009 and this rerun only has minor changes in cast. “The play has been staged 72 times since 2009. It is a god’s gift to me because the director, the writer and the cast are all brilliant,” said Chiu in an earlier interview in Shenzhen.

To demonstrate the character’s self-destructive behavior, Chiu said she wears a pair of small shoes on stage to make her walking look like a zombie. “During the past eight years, audiences continue to inspire me. Their passion for Eileen Chang is thrilling. Many wrote their reviews of the novella and the play on my social media, which has helped me improve my comprehension of the character.”

A fan of Chang, Chiu has her own drama company Perry Chiu Experimental Theater. Musical and literary classics are far from the only genre that the versatile stage queen has excelled in. She is noted for starring in plays dealing with sex and gender and having strong female leads, such as “The Vagina Monologues,” “Butterflies Are Free” and “Fire of Desire.”

Chiu has a large fan base in China, and is sometimes labeled by the press as “controversial,” “bold” or “feminist.” But she said: “I’m not a feminist. I just view life from a woman’s angle and try to help the audience know more about women’s inner world.”

Time: 8 p.m., April 28-29

Tickets: 99-499 yuan

Booking: 400-185-8666

Venue: Nanshan Cultural and Sports Center, 2106 Nanshan Boulevard, Nanshan District (南山区南山大道2106号南山文体中心)

Metro: Line 1, Taoyuan Station (桃园站), Exit B

Chiu will give a free talk to local fans and book lovers on “The Golden Cangue” at OCAT Shenzhen this Friday. Entry is free. No need to sign up.

Time: 7:30-9 p.m., April 7

Venue: Library, OCAT Shenzhen, South Area, OCT-LOFT, Nanshan District (南山区华侨城创意文化园南区OCAT深圳馆图书馆)

Metro: Line 1, Qiaocheng East Station (侨城东站), Exit A