A stage photo of the play The Father. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

The Father, an Oscar Award-winning film in English written and directed by French playwright Florian Zeller, has been adapted to Chinese theaters, premiering at Shanghai Dramatic Arts Center in July.

The Chinese play features veteran actor Chin Shih-Chieh from Taiwan province as Andre, the elderly father suffering from Alzheimer's disease, with Tian Shui playing his daughter Anna.

The play follows the confusion of the father's memory as he loses grip on reality: his daughter turns into a strange woman, the furniture and his apartment keeps changing colors and shapes. He refuses assistance from the daughter, and begins to doubt his loved ones, his own mind and even the fabric of his reality, as he tries to make sense of the changing circumstances.

A stage photo of the play The Father. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

This is the first time Chin has collaborated with a theater company on the Chinese mainland, and he admitted that playing Andre brought him new challenges. Because of the Alzheimer's disease, his character has many repetitive and illogical lines, which he had difficulty remembering, a rare experience in the past decades of his successful movie and theater career.

Tian lost her own mother to Alzheimer's disease a few years ago. Playing the daughter brought back painful memories, but also made her performance more accurate and personal, she said.

The play will have 14 shows at Shanghai Dramatic Arts Center till Aug 11, and from Aug 15 to 18 be performed at the National Center for Performing Arts in Beijing.

A stage photo of the play The Father. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

A stage photo of the play The Father. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]