Hong Kong premiere of a play adapted from Mai Jia’s novel of the same name
An age of internal strife and foreign aggression
A war featuring psychological warfare and an undercover
Decoding is easier than evading the shot in the dark
Mai Jia, dubbed the “Dan Brown of China” and reigning star writer of spy thrillers in Chinese
Another famous novel after his Decoded and Covert Operations
It is the year 1941. China is under a tripartite division of power between Wang Jingwei’s Nationalist Government in Nanjing, Chiang Kai-shek’s Nationalist Government in Chongqing, and Mao Zedong’s base in the land bordering the three provinces of Shaanxi, Gansu and Ningxia, all three independent of one another in a precarious balance of power. In Hangzhou, which is under Japanese rule, the puppet regime’s intelligence unit detects a communist spy codenamed “Old Chap” among their ranks. So they make up fake intelligence to lure the spy out. One night, four people from the intelligence unit are taken secretly to a villa named “Qiu Zhuang”, among whom would be “Old Chap”.
In an era where trust is non-existent, within the short duration of four days, endless scenes of a mental tug-of-war are being played out, with all four contending with doubt and anxiety.
Among the web of intertwined clues, there are cryptic codes to break and life-and-death choices to make. Who will come out as the final winner in this arm-wrestling contest of will power and cunning? | 
