It is 1949, in Singapore, and two acting troupes are rehearsing their forthcoming performances on the same stage. In this comic tour-de-force, scenes from one show are rehearsed and then scenes from another, and the two entirely different plays become intermingled in a hilarious fashion. The first play is a tragic melodrama about two star-crossed lovers. The second is based on an old Chinese classic comedy, called "The Peach Blossom Land," about a cuckolded husband who is magically transported to a beautiful otherworldly paradise, populated exclusively by men who look like his wife's lover, and women who look like his wife. Further compounding the confusion, a crazy woman wanders into the theater looking for someone no one there knows, whom she calls Liu Zi-ji, who may or may not exist and may or may not be missing.
by Clarke Fountain
synopsis
